Gift-Wrapped Heart
by Panoctu
Summary: What might happen when Nick Wilde - a fox - visits Bunnyburrow together with his mom to celebrate Christmas with his partner and best friend Judy Hopps and her family? Fluff! Lots and lots of fluff!
1. Chapter 1

The door he opens without a creak.  
Inside he looks, takes just a peek.  
Everything is dark and quiet.  
Truly, 'tis a silent night.  
It steps inside, on careful paws,  
the mammal we call Santa Claws.  
Places beneath the Christmas tree,  
A little story, just for thee.

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Carrots?" the red fox asked for the umpteenth time.

"Nick, I promise you my parents don't own any torches," the grey bunny doe sitting next to him replied, shaking her head in amusement.  
"And all the pitchforks are stored in the barn, far enough away that you could escape long before they can get them," she added in jest after a moment.

"But they know that we are coming. By the time we arrive, everything might already be prepared for a good old-fashioned fox hunt," he kept pressing on.

With a slightly annoyed sigh, the bunny briefly closed her eyes.

"They know that we are coming because they have been the ones who invited you and your mom to celebrate Christmas with us in Bunnyburrow. It will be f-fi~ne."  
Her last word was prolonged by a huge yawn, causing her buckteeth to show and forcing a smile on the reynard's face.

 _She's so cute when she does this_ , he thought.

Of course, he would never say it out loud. He didn't have a death wish after all.

"Why don't you try to get some shut-eye, Fluff? I'll wake you up when we reach the station."

Her eyelids already dropping, Judy nodded in agreement.

The doe tipped up the armrest between them, and sidled closer to the tod, snuggling up against his side.  
Nick laid his arm around her and after a moment covered her with his tail as well, barely leaving her feet and head to poke out of the mass of red fur.

With a content sigh, the bunny fell asleep almost instantly; only a whispered "Thanks" left her small muzzle, her lips curled into the faintest smile.

Nick could feel the gaze of his mother, who was sitting across from them in the train's compartment they occupied.  
Looking up from the grey female, he saw the amused teasing twinkle in the green eyes that looked so much like his own.

After Judy had met Mrs. Wilde for the first time, she had told Nick that he had the same gleam in his eyes whenever he was bantering with her.

Giving his mom a shrug and a lopsided grin that could have meant anything or nothing at all, Nick averted his eyes and stared out the window.  
He felt the inside of his ears burning at the knowing expression he had glimpsed on the vixen's face.

The landscape flew by concealed by the darkness outside the train that the fox's gaze couldn't penetrate. His night vision was useless with the lights inside the Rabbit Transit turned on.

Not that it really mattered.

Endless rows of trees and expanses of vast snow-covered fields meant not much to him at the moment since his thoughts were occupied by a certain lagomorph.

There was a reason the tod was so nervous to celebrate with the whole Hopps family.  
His mind wandered to his bag in the overhead rack and its contents.

Nick had invited Judy to celebrate Christmas with him and his mom, but she had turned him down with an apologetic look, telling him that she would visit her family.  
Though, her parents had told her it would be alright for him to come, too.

As happy as that had made the tod, he couldn't just abandon his mom.  
Of course, Judy had understood this, but she had looked downtrodden nevertheless, her expression a reflection of the fox's.

That is until her eyes had lit up and she had fished her phone out of her pocket, swiping away at the screen.

When Nick had asked her what she was doing, she had shushed him and greeted the mammal at the other end of the line which the tod had realized was her mom.  
It hadn't taken a minute and not only Nick, but Vivian Wilde as well was invited out to Bunnyburrow.

While his mom was excited to visit the countryside and meet Judy's family, it left Nick in a pinch.  
At the Hopps warren it was custom - or so Judy had told him - that all presents were opened at the same time while the whole family was gathered in the big dining hall, which was the only room where they all would fit in at the same time, given that it was cleared from all the tables and benches.

So everyone would see what he was giving her.

And everyone would hear what he meant to tell her.

 _Pitchforks and torches. Or forks and candles if they have nothing else. I just know it._

His gaze drifted from the window back to the sleeping doe.

 _Depending on her answer it might still be worth it… or it will be an utter disaster. Oh, woe me,_ the tod thought with a hint of gallows humor.

Judy shifted in her sleep, snuggling a little closer to him.  
When the fox caressed her arm with a thumb, a content, little huff escaped her, causing Nick to smile.

Judy really deserved to get some rest after the day they had had.

While being on break, the bunny had offered to get the both of them something to eat.  
Only minutes later she had called in a purse snatcher over the radio, stating that the perp was fleeing by bicycle and that she was in pursuit.

Nick had tried to follow them by car, but at one point the road had been blocked because of a traffic accident, making it impossible for him to go on.  
He had left the vehicle and chased his partner and her quarry by foot, knowing that the distance between them was already fairly big.

To his great marvel, Judy had kept up with the thief, herding him back in her partner's direction.  
After half an hour they had finally gotten the perp cornered in a dead end.

Her energy was something that never ceased to amaze Nick.

And it was one of the reasons he was madly in love with the bunny.

Another one - he mused - was that she was entirely unafraid of him and trusted him without a second thought. The way she was cuddling with him, a predator, was evidence enough.

Oh, she had been embarrassed at first, when she had fallen asleep during one of their regular movie nights at his place.  
When she had woken up, she had found herself in a similar position as she was currently in, nestled into the fox's side and clutching his tail to her chest like it was a big, soft plush toy. She had apologized to him.  
Profoundly.  
But Nick had just told her it was okay.

A brief moment of awkward silence had settled in before the doe, still visibly flustered, had admitted that it had felt nice. He was so fluffy and warm.  
Without hesitating, the tod had put his arm around her, pulling her close again and a second later Judy had relaxed and leaned against him.

It had become a habit for them to cuddle up like this for every movie night after that one.

Looking up from the sleeping, gray bunny, the reynard caught his mom gazing at him out of the corner of her eye. The same knowing gaze as before.

The fact that she was with them was also thanks to Judy.  
Without the doe, Nick was convinced he would have never mustered the courage to reach out to his estranged mother, trying to repair the bond he had damaged and apologizing to the female he had hurt so much in the past.  
But there she was, right in front of him, smiling, teasing him on occasion... shedding tears when he had reappeared at her doorstep after almost fifteen years.

He felt the familiar warmth in his chest when he pondered how everything that was good in his life was centered around and connected to Judy.

About an hour later, the announcement that they approached Bunnyburrow Station drew Nick back from his thoughts and caused him to turn his head towards the window once more.

As the rabbit-shaped station building came into view, the fox couldn't help the chuckle that left his muzzle. "You gotta be kidding me."

Roused by the tod's words, Judy lifted her head from where it had rested against his side.  
"Whas th'madder? Something habbnd?"

Her slurred questions caused Nick's chuckle to turn into an amused snort before he was able to answer. "Yeah, I just saw a giant bunny looking at us from the snowy depths of the night. Nothing interesting."

If he were able to reach his phone, he would snap a picture of the bewildered look on the still only half awake rabbit's face. But the device was burrowed in his pants pocket, trapped between their hips.

Judy slowly leaned forward to look past the fox and out of the window. When she spotted the building, she hid her face in both paws, groaning in fake despair at the vulpine's pun.

The doe's head jerked up as a realization hit her.  
"That means we're there."  
A broad smile appeared on her face, and as soon as the train started to slow down, Judy was out of her seat, almost dragging the fox along.  
"Come on Nick, hurry! We are here! Move it!"

He shook his head with a fond expression before gently pulling the doe back.  
"It seems somebunny is well rested now. But don't forget our luggage, Carrots."

Putting her arms behind her back, Judy slightly leaned forward and peered up at her foxy companion, shooting him an apologetic grin.

That gave him the perfect opportunity to admire the way she looked.

Simple blue jeans were emphasizing the doe's strong, slender legs and round hips.  
And the salmon-colored, hand-knit sweater with its vertical cabled pattern that her mom had sent her last year was nothing too fancy but complimented her figure quite well, accentuating her small waist and making her already stunning purple eyes seem a little darker and more mysterious.

 _Beautiful bunny_ , he thought with longing, praying once again that his surprise would go well and that he wouldn't be chased out of Bunnyburrow by an angry mob of lagomorphs.

"Nick, are you listening to me?"  
And now the beautiful bunny was looking at him with annoyance in her dark, mysterious eyes.  
Her arms crossed in front of her chest, Judy waited for the reynard's answer, her foot thumping away at a mile per hour and her ears irritatedly standing up.

"You said that you are sorry and that you were only acting like an overcharged energizer bunny because last year we had to work with no time off around Christmas."

With a satisfied smirk, Nick watched as the bunny's expression morphed into one of surprise.

 _Don't mess with a former street hustler, Sweetheart._

Though her foot slowed down, it wasn't standing still just yet.

"Okay, first of all, don't mention that stupid commercial. And secondly: if you listened to me, what were you spacing out for, then?"

Nick knew she wouldn't just give up that easily.

 _Throw her a bone... uh... carrot then?_

His grin grew a little wider.

"I was completely captivated by a certain lovely lagomorph is all."  
He added a wink for good measure.

Like a magic trick, it stopped the continued assault on the train's floor and set the insides of Judy's ears on fire, causing the tod's heart to skip a beat at her reaction.

"I think you two should postpone your little banter until we got off the train," Vivian Wilde's voice broke through the sudden silence that had set in after Nick's unexpected comment.

Realizing that they had finally come to a halt, he hurried to retrieve his and Judy's belongings from the overhead rack.  
The three mammals swiftly stepped out onto the platform right when the doors closed behind them. Nick was convinced he had lost some fur from the tip of his tail there.

The air in Bunnyburrow was crisp, and the spit of snow that fell softly from the dark sky was carrying some additional cold with it.

Setting their two small bags down - they had only one day off and therefore hadn't brought much with them - he handed Judy her parka before putting on his own.

While the doe was still fighting with her rebellious zipper, mumbling not-actual-curses under her breath, Nick unceremoniously placed the bunny's beanie on her head, pulling it down over her eyes. With an outcry, Judy blindly swatted away at the fox's paws.

Pulling the headdress up with an annoyed huff, she found that the tod had kneeled down in front of her, holding her scarf in both paws.  
Reaching forward and behind her head, Nick wrapped it deftly around her neck, making sure to cover the bunny's ears as well and not tying it up too tightly.

Judy - unable to be angry at the fox now - gave him a small smile.  
"Thank you, Nick."

Returning the smile, he pulled up the zipper on her parka.  
"You are welcome, Carrots. I can't let my favorite bunny catch a cold out here in the middle of Podunk now, can I?"

That earned him a soft punch to the shoulder and a chuckle.  
"Believe me, Podunk would feel much worse to a city slicker like you."

Being that close to her, Nick was almost sure he saw the doe's cheeks flushing under her fur.

Silence settled in between them, and Nick couldn't help but stare deeply into the doe's amethyst eyes.

He could never get enough of them.

How they lit up when Judy was happy.  
How she rolled them when he was telling her one of his silly jokes.  
How fondly they considered him right now.  
How big they appeared to be when he was so close.  
...when did he get close enough that they took up almost his whole field of vision?

"There you are!"

Both mammals jerked away from each other at the sudden call.

The tod felt his heart beating violently in his chest while he stood to his full height, turning around to see where the voice had come from.

Through the veil of snow and night, he saw another bunny approaching them.  
Occasionally the light from the station's lamps illuminated her when she passed beneath them, showing a white-furred bunny doe whose ear-tips and area around her nose looked like they had been dipped in milk chocolate.

"A sister of yours, Fluff?" Nick asked from the corner of his mouth, glancing at the rabbit beside him.

"Mhm, that's Mellida. I guess she came to pick us up."  
A wide grin appeared on her muzzle at the sight of her sibling, though her eyes kept flicking back towards the reynard standing at her side, her nose twitching slowly.

Something in the look she gave him made his fur tingle, and he inwardly cursed Judy's sister for her untimely entrance.

When Mellida was close enough, Judy hugged her sister with a smile.  
"It's so good to see you, Jude. We've all missed you last year."

Letting go, Judy gave her an apologetic look.  
"I've missed you guys, too. I'm sorry that I couldn't come home last Christmas, but the city was going a little crazy at that time. None of us got time off back then."

Mellida just shrugged it off.  
"You are here now, that's what matters. And you brought guests."  
With that, the white doe stepped towards Nick and his mother who had waited a little behind the two bunnies.

Just a little over one and a half year ago, no member of her family would get so close to a predator without showing at least some concern.  
That's the reason Judy felt so proud and grateful towards her sister who wore an honest smile and approached the two foxes without fear.

"So, you must be the famous Nick Wilde my sister can't stop talking about."  
She offered a paw that Nick took gently into his, impressed and warmed by how the doe seemed to be entirely unfazed by the fact he was a fox.

"It's not like I'm talking about him all the time. You are exaggerating."

Judy's mumbled protest brought a grin to her siblings face.  
"Right. Of course. It's just that whenever we are chatting with each other _or_ I hear you talking to mom and dad via muzzle time you almost always say things like: 'Nick said this', 'Nick did that', 'you should have seen the expression on Nick's face', 'I'm going to meet Nick later', 'I'm at Nick's place right now', 'Nick's tail looks just so fluffy, I-gmph.'"

Sadly, the tod in question never got to hear what Judy had to say about his tail since the gray doe quickly put a paw over her sister's muzzle to cut her off.

"Yep, that would be me," Nick interjected, wearing a smirk that to Judy spoke volumes about the teasing, ribbing and probing she had to expect in the near future, making her groan inwardly... and outwardly.

"And that," he moved his tail forward and upward, so its tip was at eye level with Mellida, "is the fluffy appendage that Judy apparently mentioned _occasionally_."

With that he let it tilt forward slightly, making it look like his tail was bowing to the doe.  
A motion Judy didn't capture since she had pulled her beanie down as if she wanted to try and hide inside.

The white-furred bunny couldn't help but laugh at the tod's antics.

"Why, aren't you a fluffy little gentlemammal?" she addressed Nick's tail, reaching forward like she wanted to pet it.

Just in time, the fox moved it away, bringing it out of reach.  
"I'm sorry, but we foxes aren't very fond of other mammals touching our tail."

The words had left his muzzle before he had thought about it.  
Too late he realized that Judy was still standing next to him and even without looking at her directly he saw how her ears twitched in the confinements of her clothes.

He mentally chided himself an idiot and knew he had to run some damage control come the next chance to talk with the doe alone.

Mellida instantly pulled back her paw with an apologetic look.  
"No, no. _I'm_ sorry. I didn't mean to be rude."

"It's fine. You couldn't know. But talking about rude..."  
The reynard turned towards his mom, ears flattening against his skull.

The vixen just shrugged it off, though, and offered her paw to the young bunny.

"Welcome to Bunnyburrow, Mrs. Wilde."  
The doe looked about as embarrassed for forgetting the second red fox as Nick did but tried her hardest to make up for it with the brightest, most inviting smile she could muster.

"Don't worry about it, Dear. At least _all_ of this had been quite entertaining."  
She spared a quick glance towards her son, who spotted the traces of a teasing smirk around the corners of her lips.

 _Great, have I really been that obvious? I guess I'm losing my fine edge as a conmammal if others can look right through me like this. I guess I could blame it on a mother's intuition?  
Or I just blame it on Carrots.  
Yeah, that sounds good. It's all the fault of this unbearably overenthusiastic, sickeningly empathetic, incredibly beautiful, heartwarmingly compassionate... where did I want to go with this again?_

Shaking himself from his absentminded state, he snuck a peek at Judy, observing how the grey doe tried her hardest to contain a giggle.  
Following her gaze, Nick watched a flustered Mellida arguing with his mom, who obviously was about to convince the white-furred bunny to call her by her given name.

"I just don't want to be rude again, Mrs. Wilde. I already almost offended your son."

"Nonsense, Sweetie. He wasn't offended in the slightest, right Nicky?"

It was apparent that the vixen greatly enjoyed herself and Nick almost felt sorry for Mellida, who surprisingly seemed to be quite a worrywart. _Almost_.

"That is correct," the tod agreed, unable to keep the smirk entirely off his face.  
It grew only wider when an amused snort from next to him reached his ears.

"See? Also, if you are afraid of being rude: calling me 'Mrs. Wilde' makes me feel old.  
So you would basically be calling me old by continuing to address me this way.  
'Vivian' sounds a lot nicer and would be less... _offending_ , don't you agree?"

While her sister struggled with herself, Judy leaned closer towards Nick, whispering just loud enough so he could hear it: "I can see now where you got that teasing side of yours from.  
I bet your mom could make Chief Bogo go haywire in less than a day."

"Fluff, _I_ could make ol' Buffalo Butt go haywire in less than a day.  
The difference is that my mom wouldn't have to fear his wrath, while I on the other paw might get parking duty in the coldest part of Tundratown until I'm nothing more than a frozen fox-pawsicle."

That mental image caused Judy to burst into another fit of giggles that made her whole body shake.

It was only stopped by the sound of two paws clapping together once, and Vivian - who had finally convinced Mellida - exclaiming victoriously: "Wonderful! Now that we got this out of the way, why don't we leave this platform? I start to feel cold."

Sure enough, the wind had picked up, and the snowfall had thickened since their arrival, forcing the temperature to fall yet lower.

Looking closer at the grey doe next to him, Nick realized that she hadn't just been shaking from laughter, but that she was actually shivering by now.

"Sounds good to me. Let's go then."  
With that, he picked up his and Judy's bag and held his paw out to take his mothers as well.

When she handed it over, the tod let his eyes quickly flicker towards Mellida and raised one eyebrow by a fraction.  
Catching on, Vivian gave a small smile and nod and thanked Nick for taking her bag.

"Can we go now, _please_?" Judy asked, almost jogging on the spot to warm herself up a little.

"You two go ahead. I wanted to talk to your sister here for a second if that's okay with you?" The last part of the vixen's question was directed at the white-furred doe, who looked surprised by the request but nodded nevertheless.

She threw her sister the key for the car and watched her and the tod walking towards the parking lot which was located behind the station building.

Vivian had already come up with a plan to occupy the bunny for a couple of minutes so that her son could talk in private to Judy.  
She had a vague idea what it was about but decided on confirming it later, after they had returned to Zootopia the next day.  
She would have plenty of time to probe him then.

 _But for now..._

Her attention shifted to the white doe who was still looking in the direction the other two mammals had vanished in.

The vixen opened her muzzle...

"Have I done something wrong?"

... and closed it again.

After a couple of seconds had passed without the lagomorph speaking again, Vivian asked: "Why are you asking, Dear?"

"Judy seemed like she wasn't all too happy when I showed up. She tried to hide it, but I could sense that something was off."

 _This little bunny is sharp,_ Vivian thought.  
 _Maybe it just runs in the family_.

With a sigh, Mellida shifted her gaze towards the red fox.  
"So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about Mrs. ... Vivian?"

The vixen smiled and pondered her answer for a moment before she decided to follow her intuition instead of lying to the bunny.  
She started walking at a slow pace, indicating her to follow.

"I actually had nothing I wanted to talk to you about, but those two need a moment to speak without anyone listening in."

"And to answer your first question," Vivian said despite Mellida trying to get a word in at that statement, "you didn't do anything wrong. Your timing was just bad. They had such a sweet moment going on."

"Wait, what are you trying to tell me? Are they dating?"

The vixen simply shook her head in denial.

"Not yet. But it's obvious there is something between them. From what you have said before, you have felt it as well, right?"

The doe contemplated her words for a moment, while they slowly approached the parking lot.

"It's true that they are very close from what Judy had told me. But they are... well, you know?"

"Different species?" Vivian provided.

Mellida nodded in reply.

"And? Does it bother you?" the vixen gently pressed on.

The bunny stopped in her tracks, dumbfounded by the question.

Giving it some thought, the answer she arrived at surprised her.  
"No. To be honest, I had already thought that it was such a shame that your son wasn't a buck since it felt like Judy and he would have really hit it off. But I guess, if they feel that way about each other, it doesn't matter what species they are."

Vivian had felt a little nervous about telling the doe so much, but her intuition had been right, it seemed.  
She offered the white-furred bunny a smile. "I'm glad you think so, too."

Mellida shrugged and smiled as well.  
"As long as Jude is happy, that's what matters. So, what was that about a private talk they needed to have?"

The vixen couldn't stop the grin that appeared on her muzzle when an idea struck her.  
"I have a rough idea... I know I said they should talk without anybody listening in but what they don't know... how good are your ears?"

Judy had turned on the heater and sat down next to Nick in the back of her parents old Mercury Mewstic, waiting for the air inside the car to warm up.

The reynard had been surprised when he hadn't spotted the blue pick-up truck Judy had used to drive back from Bunnyburrow to Zootopia during the Nighthowler Case.  
The doe had explained to him that her family owned a couple of different vehicles.  
Four mammals on the tiny truck would be too many, and one of the busses they used to drive around the whole family would be a little overkill.

The image of multiple busses filled with bunnies who all belonged to the Hopps family rendered even him speechless.

Seeing how the bunny doe next to him was still shivering, the tod sidled closer, opened up his jacket and pulled her to his side, sharing his warmth with her; something the doe accepted with a content hum.

When he curled his tail around her, though, he felt her tense up.

After a moment, Judy leaned away from the fox's side.

"I'm so sorry Nick," she said with downcasted eyes and Nick was convinced that her ears would be all droopy if not for the fact that they were still trapped inside her scarf and parka.

"I would ask you what you are apologizing for, but I saw how you reacted when I told your sister we foxes don't like it when other mammals touch our tails. So I'll tell you now: it's nothing to worry about or apologize for, Fluff."

"How can you say that?" the doe asked in an agitated voice that was slowly rising in volume.

"I did that to you out of ignorance. I didn't even spare one thought about the fact that you might feel uncomfortable about it.  
Just because I liked it and because you are too nice to tell me off, I..."

"Judy!"

The use of her real name stopped her rambling that could have almost been called shouting at that point.  
She looked at him with big, wet eyes that were close to spilling tears.

"Listen to me, now! Did I say that we dislike it in general? Yes, yes I did. Did I say there is no chance I could ever like it? No, no I didn't say that. Usually, the only ones we would let touch our tails are family members or mammals that are very close and precious to us. You might not be family, but, Carrots, you are definitely one of the most precious and most important mammals in my life."

The fox wiped the few, stray tears away that had started to make their way down Judy's cheeks before he continued.

"Also - and I swear if you ever tell anybody I said that I will deny that I ever knew a bunny named Judy Hopps - I... well, you see... I... liked it w-when youcaressedmytailwithyourtinybluntclaws."

 _Gah, curse that emotional stuff! I'm really not used to that_.

He felt his ears heating up and folded them back against his head to hide the rising blush.

But it had the effect he had hoped for.

A broad smile appeared on the bunny's face. One of those typical, bright, bucktooth-showing Judy Hopps smiles that was always able to raise his spirits and alleviate his sorrows.

Wiping the remaining moisture from her eyes, the doe leaned back against the fox and, after a moment, pulled his tail into her lap and started petting it.

"Nick?"

"Hmm?"

"Could you say that again? About how you like it when I do this?"

"Absolutely not. Especially since I have no idea what you might be talking about."

Judy's paw stopped mid-motion, causing the tod almost to whine.  
Though when her paw reached inside one of her parka's pockets, all kind of alarms went off inside his head.  
As soon as his own voice - slightly distorted and muffled - reached his ears, 'almost' wasn't an option anymore and his whining filled the car, making the doe smirk victoriously.

"I should have known better than saying _that_ without checking your paws and pockets first," Nick admonished himself.

"Yes, you should have done that, dumb fox," Judy teased, her voice laden with mirth.

"But I guess I know how to cheer you up."

With that, she reached behind her as far as she could, placing a paw dangerously close to the base of the tod's tail and almost causing him to let loose a startled yip.

When she slowly dragged her claws along his tail towards its tip - carefully so as not to pull his fur - it was all Nick could do to keep the shiver that wanted to run up and down his spine from showing.

He _couldn't_ stop himself from purring, though, and the deep, content rumbling coming from his chest filled the inside of the vehicle.

It also caused Judy's whole body to vibrate, since she was once more pressed tightly to the tod's side, covered by his jacket and tail.

The feeling made the doe snicker under her breath before she simply closed her eyes and enjoyed the comfortable and companionable silence between them.

A silence that to her displeasure was all too soon interrupted when both front doors were opened, allowing the cold outside air to enter the vehicle as well as a white bunny doe and a red-furred vixen.

Instantly, Nick stopped his purring and Judy briefly considered sliding over to her half of the back seat.

Then she caught Mellida's gaze.

Her sister smiled at her; a smile that only widened when her eyes quickly moved to the tail that was still tightly wound around Judy.

With a wink that caused Judy's ears and cheeks to heat up, she turned forward and started the ignition.

Realizing that she was unbelted, Judy made a move to actually draw away from Nick. Though her efforts were blocked by the tod, who still had an arm slung around her, keeping her in place.

"Nick, come on, we have to belt up."

"Oh, just relax, Fluff. It's not like we will be going at two hundred miles on a highway or anything."  
His statement was punctuated by a massive yawn with his tongue sticking out and curling at the tip.

Mellida - who had watched Nick in the rear mirror - got a good look at the fox's canines and felt a pang of worry for her sister.  
It lasted about as long as it took her gaze to land on Judy, spotting the huge grin which the doe tried to hide behind a paw.  
She knew that her sister worked with the tod every day and spent most of her free time with him as well.  
If Judy trusted him, she would do so as well.

"Nick is right. With that snowfall, I'll drive slow enough that walking would almost be faster, so you two just cuddle up and get some rest, eh?"  
She caught her sister's attention in the rear mirror and shot her another wink, causing Judy's blush to deepen some more.

Nick - whose eyes seemed like they were about to fall shut after the long day and his own part in the pursuit of the purse snatcher - chuckled at that suggestion.

"Dips has a good idea there, but I think I'll pass. If I fall asleep now, you wouldn't be able to wake me until tomorrow."

The white bunny's ears sprung up, and she asked over her shoulder: "Dips?"

Rolling her eyes Judy softly elbowed the reynard before answering.  
"Yeah, Nick is big on... well... _nick_ names."  
The doe giggled at her own joke, causing the fox to roll his eyes in turn.

Confused, Mellida mulled over the monicker.  
"I don't get it."

His usual lopsided grin in place, the tod looked at the doe beside him, questioningly raising an eyebrow.

Face scrunched up in concentration, Judy tried to come up with an explanation.

Only when her gaze found her sister's reflection, her eyes lit up with understanding.  
Pointing at her own ears and muzzle, she gave Nick a questioning look, and the tod nodded in reply.

"I got it," she exclaimed with a grin. "Your muzzle and ears look like they have been dipped in chocolate."

For a few seconds, it was silent in the car, until a groan rose from the front seat.

"Ugh. Seriously? Chocolate? _Dips?_ "

"Oh, I find it quite endearing," chimed the - up until then quiet - vixen in.

Shaking her head with an amused smile on her face, Mellida decided to change the topic, asking her sister to call their parents and let them know that it might take them another ninety minutes until they would arrive.

After Judy ended the call and pocketed her phone again, she looked at Nick just to find the reynard fast asleep.

Cuddling deeper into the fox's side, the doe first pulled his jacket and then his tail tighter around her.  
Her small paws kept petting the soft appendage, a contemplating expression on her face.

Exchanging a knowing look over the car's center console, the two females on the front seats smiled at the peaceful scene before turning their gaze back towards the monotone darkness of the night and falling snow.

For the next one and a half hour, soft music from the radio and sporadic low-voiced conversations filled the inside of the vehicle.  
Now and then, the relative silence was interrupted by a soft groan from Nick as soon as Judy stopped petting his tail.

A shimmer of light appeared in the darkness, still out of direct sight, hidden behind a small hill.  
The closer they drew, the more noticeable it got until Mellida announced: "Five more minutes and we'll be there. Maybe you should try to wake Sleeping Beauty, Jude."

They grey doe had almost fallen asleep, too, since the conversations had slipped into comfortable silence about twenty minutes ago.

Suddenly feeling wide awake again, she leaned a little around the fox and caught the dim light that brightened the night around them.

She tried calling Nick's name to wake him up but didn't get a reaction from him.

Shaking him awake failed just a miserably, causing the tod only to mumble in his sleep and attempting to cover himself in his jacket, effectively clutching Judy to his side like she was a stuffed toy.  
An action that didn't go unnoticed by Vivian and Mellida who were snickering at the surprised expression on Judy's face.

"Maybe you should try to kiss him awake?", the white-furred doe offered her advise.

"I'll keep that as the absolute last resort. But thanks for the suggestion, _Dips_." Judy replied, her face showing a mix of annoyance, bashfulness, and amusement.

The grey doe took a deep breath before she bellowed, **"Wilde! Parking duty!"** in a deep voice that still didn't come even close to the cape buffalo's.

Nevertheless, it did the trick.

Upon hearing the detested phrase, his eyes snapped open, and the tod shot out of his seat, hitting his head against the car roof.  
All the while he was still holding Judy tightly to his side.

"Ouch! What the hell... Judy?"  
Nick looked at the guffawing bunny in his arm, rubbing his head where it had connected with the roof.

His eyes wandered to the front, where two more mammals were trying - and failing - to contain their laughter.

"Ok. Yeah. Har har, laugh it off," the fox grumbled while he sat back down, placing the still snickering Judy besides him.

"I have fallen asleep, and a vicious bunny injured me… so to speak."  
He still inspected his head with one paw but was now laughing along.

While the other two females left the car which was now parked on the Hopps' property, Judy stayed with Nick inside a little longer.

The tod's gesture hadn't gone unnoticed by her, making her worry that the fox might have gotten harmed by her prank.

"Show me your head, Nick."

Surprised, he drew his paw back from the still throbbing spot and looked at the doe, showing her his best lopsided grin.

"What, are you concerned that you have hurt your poor partner?"

His attempt at humor was in vain, though, since Judy simply nodded and lifted both paws, motioning for the reynard to come closer.

Seeing the sincerely worried expression on the bunny's face, he leaned forward with a sigh, letting Judy take a look.

"You really don't have to worry about me so much, Carrots. I have a thick head."

When her seeking paws found the spot, he almost winced but caught himself before that. It wasn't hurting that much. Maybe it would leave a small bump, but that was about it, and he didn't want Judy to blame herself like he knew she would do.

"There isn't even a bump here. I guess you were right," the doe admitted after a moment, but couldn't keep herself from asking "Are you sure it doesn't hurt?"

Nick, who felt blissful from the bunny's soft paws and the way they were 'caressing' his head, answered without a second thought: "A _tiny_ little bit, but kissing a boo-boo always works, you know?"

The tod had no chance to backpedal on his words when he realized what he had said before a very brief, soft sensation between his ears made his heart stumble.

 _Did she just...?_

He broke out of his momentary stupor when the lights inside the car turned on.

Looking up, he barely spotted Judy's tail exiting the car before the door slammed shut.

Slowly, a dopey grin formed on his muzzle, one that he found impossible to hide when he left the vehicle moments later.

Tail wagging happily behind him, Nick walked around the car towards the trunk and took his bag.

Once more, he held out his paw to take his mom's luggage as well.

When he did the same for Judy, the night couldn't cover the blush on her cheeks. Not from the fox's eyes at least.

The coy smile that she gave him along with a soft-spoken 'thank you' warmed his chest and made his heart rate pick up some more.

Only when he finally turned towards the Hopps-Burrow did his face fall flat.

Slack-jawed the reynard stared at the small, Christmasy winter wonderland that presented itself to him.

Nick knew from the stories that Judy had told him that the building that he saw was just the most top part of the burrow, like the tip of an iceberg with the main body hiding beneath the surface.

Still what he saw was quite a large building on its own, all covered in snow, with Maid Marian knew how many meters of holiday lights looping around the structure that resembled a medium sized hill. Woven in among the lights were evergreens and garlands of tinsel in gold, silver, and red. Strewn in between were baubles in the same colors, some matt some polished, with filigrain, glittering patterns, and LED stars that shone brightly among the dimmer holiday lights.

Next to the building stood a sleigh, almost as high as Nick was tall, and painted in red and gold.  
In front of the sleigh, nine snowmammals were built that Nick realized represented Santa's reindeers, all adorned with coal-eyes and noses, coats, and scarfs in different colors and patterns, and twigs sprouting from their heads like antlers.

And sitting on top of the sleigh was the great mammal himself: Santa Claws.

The old, grey lion with his bright smile that was barely visible through his white mane held his big belly while friendly winking down on whoever passed by and looked up at him.

Before he had met Judy and his life had taken a hundred eighty degrees turn, Nick used to laugh at mammals who celebrated Christmas and kits who still believed in Santa.  
After all, the old saint was a predator who broke into your home when you were asleep.  
It was unfathomable to him how prey parents could tell that lie to their big-eyed young ones while warning them about all the dangerous and possibly evil predators out there with their next breath.

These days, though, he was the one who looked at this scenery with wide, kit-like eyes, drinking in every bit of the atmosphere.

The fox let his gaze wander about some more.  
Besides the reindeers, there were also smaller snowmammals who looked quite a lot like bunnies and even some tiny rodents.  
All of them wore green and red suits as well as pointy hats that gave them the appearance of little elves.

He watched Judy disappear behind the building and followed her, his curiosity piqued.

On the other side of the warren, Nick found the main source of the light that brightened the night.

In the middle of the yard there stood a Christmas tree, as high as the building and decorated over and over with lights, tinsel, candy canes and baubles of all shapes and sizes.  
Smaller trees surrounded the tall one, each of them a mirror of their big brother, and all were connected to it by a chain of lights, spanning from tip to tip.  
Beneath them lay fake presents, partially covered by snow where they were not shielded by the trees.

In front of the huge one in the middle, Judy stood, her eyes slowly traveling up and down, drinking it all in.  
Her face was illuminated by the lights, and her warm smile made Nick's heart ache, wishing she would look at him that way, too.

Like the answer to a prayer, Judy turned around, her features softening some more when she spotted the tod who was partially shadowed by one of the smaller trees.  
She held one of her paws out to him, wordlessly beckoning him over.

When Nick joined the doe in front of the Christmas tree, she took his arm and draped it around her without hesitation, smiling up at him before her gaze returned to the myriads of ornaments in front of her.

The reynard admired her for a long moment, drinking in all the little details about the beautiful bunny next to him, from the glimmer on her silky fur through to the sparkle in her eyes before he followed her gaze.

It was only then he realized that none of the Christmas balls looked the same.  
Every single one of them either showed a delicate picture of a bunny's face or was a unique bauble itself.

He saw one in the shape of a book.  
Another one looked like a hockey stick.  
A third one like a ballerina costume.

A gold one caught his eyes, and when he took a closer look, he saw that it was a bauble in the shape of a police badge.

"What are those?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

It felt like if he would speak too loud, he might shatter the peaceful atmosphere.

Judy snuggled a little closer before answering.  
"Each one of the Christmas balls represents one member of my family. The ones which are hanging on the tall tree here show my parents and siblings who _haven't_ started their own family yet. The smaller trees show the ones who _have_."

His head swiveling in the direction of the other trees, Nick realized that the baubles there were showing even more members of the Hopps family and he briefly wondered if not maybe one day one of them might sport a red fox...

His attention snapped back to the present when Judy spoke again.

"The other baubles here show things that are special to us, things we love, or something that we have accomplished. Mom and dad put the ZPD badge up the year I finished the academy and joined precinct one," the doe remembered with a warm yet melancholic smile.

Nick couldn't help but smile along, admiring the wonderfully unique bunny next to him.  
"They must have been so proud of you, Fluff."

"Oh, we were incredibly proud of our little Jude-the-dude."

The sudden voice behind them made both mammals jump on the spot.  
Turning around, Nick was met with a pair of brown eyes and one that had the almost exact same shade of violet as Judy's.

Stu and Bonnie Hopps stepped up to them, both chuckling at the reaction they had drawn from their daughter and her partner.

"Sorry," the older doe chuckled, "we didn't mean to scare you two."

His heart rate back to normal, the tod shook his head and put on his best smile.  
"No harm done, Ma'am."

"Please, just call us Bonnie and Stu," the Hopps matron asked, her husband nodding in agreement.

Nick's smile widened a little at the two bunnies kind demeanor, and he offered them his paw, which both shook in turn.  
"Thank you. And thank you for having my mother and me."  
"It's good to have you here, Nicholas," Stu answered, making the fox's ears twitch at the use of his full first name.  
"That way we finally meet the rumored partner we've only heard about up until now," Bonnie added.

Judy was just watching the scene in silence, a little smile on her face upon seeing how well her parents and Nick got along.

"So, you two have admired our special Christmas tree?" Stu inquired after a moment, remembering the way his daughter and her friend had stood there, gazing up at all the little glass baubles.

Nick turned halfway back around to let his eyes wander over the hundreds of ornaments once more.

"Yeah. They are amazing. It's a wonderful tradition your family has here, Stu."

Looking back at the older buck, he wondered out loud: "It must have been difficult to find all these unique baubles."

The already big grin on the brown rabbit's face when he heard the fox's praise grew a little wider when he shook his head.

"We didn't find them. They were all specifically made for us," Stu explained, and Nick realized that the bunnies on the Christmas balls weren't just substitutes for real family members but images made after the real mammals.

"We had a gaffer here in Bunnyburrow," the buck continued, "Shawn Diggins. He was an old hare, almost blind and with shaking paws. But his work was unrivaled. Everything he created, he did with passion."

"Sadly," Bonnie took over, "he passed away about three years ago. Most of the Christmas balls you see here were made by him."

A pang of regret shot through Nick when he thought about how he stumbled upon this wonderful tradition just to find out it wouldn't be continued.

 _Wait! But what about...?_

"If he had died three years ago, where does the one in the form of a ZPD badge come from?" the reynard inquired, quickly taking a peek over his shoulder, seeking out the golden bauble.

"That was one of the first ones Emilia and Erik made. They are two of our oldest kits - twins - and had always been fascinated by Diggins' work. So much so that they became his apprentices as soon as they could. They had been working and learning under him for years. When he passed away, they had taken over the shop and continued to create these and many more things."

Both of the older bunnies regarded the Christmas tree with unveiled pride and joy.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Stu suddenly exclaimed, and reaching into the pocket of his green parka he pulled out a small, simple-brown box.

He handed it over to Judy. "They said you had asked them to make this last year, and they wanted you to put it up yourself."

Judy carefully took the small case from her father, regarding it with a fond expression.  
When she opened it, inside was another bauble, nestled in a bed of soft cloth to keep it from harm.

Nick tried to steal a glance at it, but the doe took it out with deft fingers, shielding the item with her body from the fox's inquiring gaze.

She searched for a good spot to hang it up before turning around, finally giving Nick the opportunity to see what it was.

His eyes widened when he recognized the shape.

There, hanging on the Hopps' Christmas tree now was a light-red glass bauble in the shape of a pawsicle.

Looking at the grey bunny, he saw that she was focusing him with her beautiful amethyst eyes, an expectant look on her face.

His muzzle opened and closed without words leaving it.  
It seemed that Judy was the only mammal who could render him speechless.

Though this time it wasn't with a thread about reporting him for a _minor administrative misconception_ regarding his taxes but with this sweet gesture that he was unable to wrap his head around.

After some seconds had passed, he finally brought out one word: "Why?"

Giving the tod a coy smile, Judy briefly averted her gaze.

"I told you, these unique glass baubles represent what has a special meaning to us. Things that are important to us... or mammals. This one stands for the day that I met you, Nick."

A lump formed in the fox's throat and he felt his chest tightening.  
He blinked in rapid succession to stop the tears that started to gather in his eyes from spilling.

Like an arrow shot from point blank she directly hit his core without giving him the chance to dodge or prepare himself.

For a moment, all he did was standing there, his heart beating hard in his chest, his breath billowing in small clouds in the cold air.  
Snow had started to gather on Judy's head and shoulders, making him wonder how long they had been out there.

Then he noticed the nervousness on the doe's face.  
With a step he closed the distance between them, gently pulling her into a tight embrace which the bunny happily reciprocated.

In a soft voice that Judy might have missed if not for her superior hearing the tod whispered: "I think I need one of those, too."

"My dad already told you," Judy replied in an equally low voice, her face buried against the fox's chest, "those are unique. You'll have to come back here every year to see this one."

Unfortunately, the mood that had built between them was broken by a sudden sneeze.

Realizing that Judy's parents were still there, Nick took a step back and cleared his throat, telling Stu - who looked at them apologetically - 'bless you.'

When Bonnie suggested for them to go inside, out of the cold, they didn't object.

After entering the foyer - for nothing else was the above ground level part of the building - Nick gave himself a light shake in an attempt to warm up a little faster.

Looking around he found his mom and Mellida standing side by side.  
They exchanged a knowing look before smirking at him and Judy.

"I see you found our lost kits, Bonnie," Vivian addressed the Hopps matriarch.

"They were behind the building, gazing at our family's special Christmas trees and tried to turn themselves into snowmammals," the older doe answered with laughter in her voice.

The vixen tilted her head a little, giving Bonnie a curious look.  
"What makes them so special?" she inquired.

"I can show you later if you want."

Vivian accepted the offer with a nod and a smile.

In the meanwhile Nick was looking around for a place to hang his jacket, not seeing any cabinets or coat hooks.

Judy, who just returned through one of the doors leading off the room, watched the fox scanning his surroundings and waved him over with a laugh.

The tod walked over to her and followed her along.  
While he passed door after door, he realized that they were all labeled alphabetically, covering three to four letters at once and he guessed they were walk-in closets.

When the doe stopped in front of another one, he saw the word 'Guests' written on it, seeing his hunch confirmed as soon as he entered.

After the both of them had rejoined the other three bunnies and one red fox, the little group headed down a long flight of broad winding stairs.

At the foot of the stairs, there was a small hall with multiple corridors leading away.

Bonnie and Stu led them down one of the many hallways, which was like the outside of the warren overly decorated.  
Evergreens were put up on the walls, adorned with red bands and the occasional pinecone, while many of the doors they passed sported Christmas wreaths.

Following the corridor winding through the burrow, forking every now and then, even Nick was hard pressed to keep track of where they came from, and he got the feeling he would be lost in an hour.

From the rooms they passed the occasional pair of eyes or ears emerged, and slowly but steadily a growing throng of bunnies started to trail them.

While walking, Bonnie and Stu kept telling the tod and his mom about their home, how the rooms were organized on the different floors, how they had to expand the burrow with more and more litters growing up here, what their kits were like and so on and so forth.

When they realized that soft murmuring had set in - murmuring that didn't stem from the group of rabbits behind them but came from the direction they were heading in, rising in volume the closer they got - Vivian asked Bonnie where they were going.

"Well, you arrived just in time for the second round of dinner, so we are going to the dining hall," the doe explained.

"If I remember correctly, Carrots told me that your whole family eats together. So why a _second round_?" Nick inquired.

"Because," Stu answered, "it's usually just us and the kits that are still living here. Today, though, _all_ of our kits are here, together with their mates, husbands or wives and our grandkits."  
By that point, Nick's ears were lying flat against his skull.

 _Of course when Carrots said her whole family will be here she really meant her_ whole _family._

"We might still fit all in when we've cleared the room from its furniture, but all of us eating there together? Impossible," the buck continued, shaking his head to emphasize his words.

"I might need to start expanding the warren again so we can have a dining hall where all of us can eat on occasions like this," he mused.

It took them only another two or three minutes to reach their destination.

As soon as the little group entered the room, all conversations died down, every head swiveling in their direction.

Nick tried to take in the whole room, but the sheer mass of bunnies seemed to cause his brain to overload.  
Every seat was taken, with many of the little kits sitting in the laps or being carried in the arms of their parents or older siblings.  
Bunnies were standing next to the tables, leaning against the wall, or sitting on the ground.

In one corner, there even was a literal pile of small fluffballs, playfully tussling, chatting, or simply cuddling.  
The only thing missing - the reynard thought to himself - was a sign that read:

Kit-Corner

Just drop 'em here

Focusing back on the rabbits he realized that still, everyone regarded them with curiosity.

He wondered about saying something to introduce him and his mom, but before he could find the right words, he heard some mewling next to them.

Searching for the source, he spotted a little baby-bunny, maybe two or three years old, struggling in the arms of his mother.

"What is it, Sweetie? Want to go to grandma and grandpa?" the doe chuckled while putting her son down.

The little buck, dragging a stuffed bunny along by one paw, started to waddle towards Bonnie... and ignored her outstretched arms completely.

Every lagomorph in the room watched in surprise as the toddler approached Vivian, stopped right in front of her, and made little grabby paws at her with big, shining eyes.

Unsure how to react to this, the vixen gave the young mother a questioning look just to find her staring at Bonnie, wordlessly seeking advice.

When the Hopps matriarch gave her daughter a small nod and encouraging smile, the younger doe's eyes wandered back to Vivian.  
Realizing that the red fox had watched her silent exchange with her mother, the insides of her ears turned slightly red before she gestured her to go ahead.

When the vixen reached out for the baby-bunny, he almost jumped into her arms.

To her, it had been too long since she last held a kit like this.  
The moment the little one snuggled up against her, her face split into a warm, wide smile.

In an instant, the subliminal tension that had vibrated inside the room was broken.

When Nick unwittingly leaned in a little, the small buck's paw shot towards him, hitting the tod square in the nose with the plush toy before he could react.

Surprised the fox drew back, sneezing once, twice, and causing the toddler to break into a high, clear laughter.

A moment later the whole room was giggling and laughing along, including the tod and his mom.

Though before the last chuckle had died, Vivian noticed that the little one had fallen asleep in her arms, entirely unfazed by the two predators close to him.

The conversations in the room had picked up again, and the mother of the little buck approached the vixen, reaching out to retrieve her son.

Vivian placed the little bunny back in her arms with a grateful smile.

While she was already turning away from the red fox, the doe stopped mid-motion.  
Holding her kit in one arm, she stuck out the other one, offering her paw to Vivian.

"I haven't even introduced myself," she stated while the fox gently shook the offered paw, "my name is Alicia."

"And that little thief," she added with a grin after the vixen had given her her name as well, "who seemed to have stolen your heart is Rupert."

"Quite the daredevil, isn't he," the vixen kidded.

"I think I could learn one thing or another from him," Alicia replied, only half in jest.

Sensing that the bunny felt guilty about the reservations she had had, Vivian quickly engaged her in a conversation, not wanting her to feel downhearted.

"Is Rupert your only kit?" she inquired.

Surprised by the sudden question, the doe briefly wondered if she should apologize for her previous behavior, before noticing the kind expression the fox regarded her with.

Understanding made her smile before she took the bait and answered.

"No, Hazel and Polly are over in that furry pile in the corner, and Yasmine is with her father, changing clothes. During dinner, she had managed to empty a whole bowl of mashed potatoes over herself," Alicia explained with a laugh.

Vivian joined in that laughter.  
"Oh, I know that all too well. My Nicky had a habit of doing this when he was a little kit as well. Sometimes I wondered how I managed to get more _in_ him than he got _on_ himself."

The doe chuckled and pondered something for a moment before speaking up again.

"Listen, Vivian, since my mom is starting to usher anyone out who already had dinner, I'll go and pick up my other two before leaving. But after we've handed out the presents later, maybe you would like to tuck Rupert in? It's rare to see him fall asleep that easily, you know?"

The suggestion made the vixen's tail wag, and the smile she had worn grew into a wide grin.  
"I'd love to, Alicia," she assured her, beaming at the young mother.

With that the doe took her leave, heading towards the heap of fluffballs to look for her own.

In the meanwhile, Bonnie had managed to clear out the dining room save for the mammals who hadn't had a meal yet.  
Those had formed a line and slowly but steadily vanished into an adjacent room, reentering the dining hall from another door with trays with food in their paws.

When the older doe turned her attention back to her guests, her ears slightly dropped, and a look of concern crossed her face.

"Are you alright, Vivian?"

Nick and Judy, who had been engrossed in a conversation with Mellida and another of their sisters instantly turned to the vixen, seeing her quickly swiping at her eyes.

"More than that, Bonnie. I think I'm in love with your wonderful family."

Blindsided by Vivian's reply, Bonnie stared at her wordlessly for a long moment.

When the doe answered, it was obvious from her glassy eyes how touched she was by the vulpine's confession.

"Thank you, dear."

Giving a sideways glance to her husband who heard that comment, Bonnie quickly changed the topic since the buck was on the verge of tears and she knew that once he started, there was no stopping the waterworks.

She led their guests into the kitchen, passing the long line of bunnies.

Once they had entered, Nick and Vivian's eyes grew wide in surprise.

The room was almost as big as the dining hall and resembled more a canteen kitchen than something a single family would own. But considering the size of that particular family, it was quite reasonable.

The single line of rabbits entering the kitchen was splitting into multiple ones inside, each passing by rows of pots, bowls, and pans, loading up the trays they had picked up before with food.

But Bonnie was leading them past those rows and towards a single stove.

The smell that greeted Nick and his mom from the pots sitting atop it made their maws water.

"I hope you'll like it. It's the first time I tried making something like an insect stew," Bonnie stated, looking a tad insecure.

"You really didn't have to," Nick and Vivian said in unison, drawing an amused snort from Judy and a chuckle from her mom.

"I thought you would say that," the older doe replied, "but I wanted to. And I have to admit it was fun to see the slack-jawed expression on Agatha Grey's face when I asked her for a recipe."  
Bonnie couldn't keep the smirk off her face.

"Oh, Agatha is an elderly vixen who lives here in Bunnyburrow together with her grandson Gideon," Judy explained upon seeing the questioning look on the foxes' faces.

Nick's ear twitched once when he recognized that name.

Judy had told him about the tod that had scarred her when they were younger.  
But she had also assured him it was long in the past, and Gideon was a decent mammal now who had apologized to her and who she had forgiven already.

Dinner reminded Nick somewhat of his time at the ZPA.

A huge room filled with mammals eating, laughing, and talking.

Though the mammals here were smaller, the food was poles apart from the academy's, and he was convinced that the topics of the conversations here were a lot less... risque.

It almost felt strange to him how much he enjoyed the bustle here considering that in the past all he wanted was to be left alone once he was done hustling others for the day.

Maybe he would drink a beer with Fin after an especially lucrative hustle, but that was about all the social interaction he had had.  
After all, why should he have tried to mingle with mammals who would rather spit in his face than talk to him?

But now? Now he wasn't even slightly bothered answering the questions asked by the bunch of little rabbits who had gathered around him after dinner.

About being a police officer.  
About the big city.  
About being a predator.  
About being a fox.  
About him and Judy being a couple.

The last one almost caused him to have a spit-take, and he was immensely grateful that Judy had excused herself just moments ago to visit the little bunnies' place.

Like the other questions, he answered this one truthfully.  
Though this time, when telling them they weren't a couple - no, not even considering that they were acting around each other the same way many of their older siblings and their mates did - he hoped it would stay a truth for not too long anymore.

The fox was saved from the ongoing onslaught of questions when Judy returned.

"Come on, Slick. I'll show you where the guestrooms are so you can put your and your mom's bag away."

Grateful for the excuse, he left the group of little bunnies behind, promising to answer more of their questions later.

"Speaking of whom," Nick said and looked around for his mom but couldn't spot her.

Interpreting his searching gaze, the doe took his paw and gave it a small tug.  
"Vivian has left with my mom a couple of minutes before. I think she wanted to see the Christmas trees."

Shrugging, the tod faced away from the room and continued to follow Judy.  
While he did so, he caught a glimpse of the young bucks and does who had gathered around him before and how they were all giggling while looking in their direction.

He wondered what that was about until he realized that Judy was still holding his paw to lead him around.

Not that the tod was complaining. Far from it.  
He simply enjoyed the feeling of her warm, small paw in his.  
To his chagrin, though, she let go as soon as they reached their destination.

"What do you wanna do now?" Judy asked after the tod had deposited his luggage there.  
"I could give you a tour of the burrow, though there isn't much to show. Most of the rooms are either bedrooms, bathrooms or storage rooms," she admitted.

Nick mulled over the doe's suggestion for a moment and shook his head.

"Sorry, Carrots, but there's something else I'd like to do right now. Could you show me the way back to the dining hall?"

"Uhm, sure. But why? Right now they are... oh!" Judy's ears stood up in realization, and she gave the tod a playful hip bump while passing him when she left the room again.  
"If that's what you want to do, then I'm not going to stop you."

With that, she grabbed his paw again, sending Nick's tail into a lazy, happy wag as they strolled back towards where they came from.

When they arrived, the hall was abuzz with bunnies hurrying back and forth, carrying tables, benches, and chairs out of the room.

Spotting Bonnie in the mass of lagomorphs, Nick quickly approached her while dodging dozens of busy rabbits.

"Okay, Bonnie, where can I help?" the tod asked, cracking his knuckles to show his willingness to lend a paw.

The older doe turned around upon hearing his voice and was surprised to find an eager fox looking at her expectantly with her daughter at his side.

"Oh, Nicholas, you are our guest. You really don't have to... "  
"But I want to," the reynard interrupted her, using the same reasoning as she did before.

Bonnie shook her head with an unbelieving smile.

"Alright, in that case just grab a chair or help with the tables and benches. There are a couple of storage rooms around here where we can place them for now. Just follow the others. If one of the rooms is full, someone will point you in the direction of another one."

"Roger that," Nick replied and gave the doe a lazy two-finger salute like he usually did with Chief Bogo before looking for a chance to help.

Spotting two bucks who obviously had trouble lifting one of the large tables on their own, he approached them and offered to take one end while they managed the other.

They gratefully accepted his help, and together the three of them managed to move the piece of furniture more or less without a problem.

Most members of the Hopps family had helped to work the fields of their farm for the biggest parts of their lives and had the muscles to prove it.  
But Nick had a slight advantage due to his larger body and he as well as Judy were working out on a daily base to stay in shape for their job. And it was showing.

With those two additional pairs of paws, the work got done faster than Bonnie and Stu had anticipated, cutting the time needed down from an hour to barely forty minutes.

After the last bench had been carried out of the now empty dining hall, Stu walked over to the fox who was scanning the room for anything they might have missed.

He slapped Nick on the back with a grin.

"Nice work there, Sonny," he stated with an appreciating look.  
"I think I need to invite you back here next year as well."

 _If you still want to have me here by then, that is_ , the fox thought.

Out loud he said: "It would be my pleasure," and gave an exaggerated bow, trying his hardest not to pant and show that it had been more tiring than he wanted to admit.

"So, what happens now," he asked with a cough after a certain gray bunny's elbow found its way into his side for his silly behavior.

Stu took a look around the now empty room.  
"Usually, the ones who helped would just take a quick shower before all of us gather back here to hand out the presents. If our PA system would properly function, I could just tell everybody that we'll prepone it, but half of the loudspeakers are not working for some reason. So, just try to pass the time until then, I'd say."

Agreeing to do just that, Judy and Nick took their leave.

The fox declared that a shower sounded good to him.  
After they took a little detour so he could grab his set of spare clothes that he brought just in case, Judy led him to the nearest showers.

The tod partly expected huge communal showers but was surprised to find a long hallway with doors leading to small rooms each with a wall-mounted fur dryer, a bench to deposit one's clothes, and a walk-in shower separated from the rest of the room by a curtain.

"I'll pick you up here after you are done. Don't want you to get lost," Judy teased him.

"And here I hoped you would soap my back," the tod replied with a smirk, leaning relaxed on the door frame.

"Oh, wouldn't you like that?" the doe replied, mirroring his lopsided grin and putting her paws on her hips.

"Yes. Yes, I would. And I could return the favor, you know?" Nick added with a wriggle of his eyebrows.

For a moment Judy regarded him with big eyes, before bursting into laughter.

Her ears aflame, she gave the fox a couple of shoves.  
"Alright, Slick. Stop joking and take your shower now, shoo!"

"Spoilsport," he just replied with a chuckle.

Sticking her tongue out at him, Judy closed the door.  
Though for a moment Nick was sure she had paused, and he could almost feel her gaze on him.

When he turned his head, he caught a pair of amethyst eyes still looking at him through the ajar door.

Slowly, he began to unbutton his shirt and heard a surprised squeak before the door slammed shut.

While he wouldn't complain about Judy walking in on him, he didn't fancy the idea some other bunny stumbled in, so he locked it.

The fox barely fit under the low hanging shower head but only cursed once when hitting his muzzle against it while tilting his head back to let the warm water run over his face.

When he left the room, Judy was already waiting for him.

Even with her shorter fur, she still looked as fluffed out as he did after using the fur dryer. Though it was much more prominent for him, considering his thicker coat.

Barely hiding her grin behind a paw, the doe couldn't help but tease her partner.  
"Wow, had anyone ever told you that you would make a cute foxy plush-toy?" she asked.

"Are my ears deceiving me or did _you_ just call me _cute_?!"

"Sure did," was her quick like a shot answer.

"Why, thank you. It means a lot to me, coming from a _cute_ little lady like yourself," the tod replied, putting as much emphasizes on the c-word as possible.

"And what are your plans now until the presents will be handed out?" he inquired, not giving Judy the chance to protest to his remark.

"There isn't much time anyhow, so I'd say we just relax in my room until then. Also: don't call me cute!" she added with a deadpan expression.

"Hey, turnabout is fair play, Sweetheart," Nick singsonged, and lazily ruffled the fur between the doe's ears while passing her by.

Judy playfully swatted at the reynard's paw, trying to look annoyed.  
But the smile she was unable to hide betrayed her amusement when she took the lead, heading in the direction of her room.

They walked in silence for a couple of seconds before Nick gazed at the doe next to him.

"... I mean it, though. You _are_ cute."

Judy already had a reprimand on the tip of her tongue but found herself unable to let it loose once she saw the serious and unusually shy look on the tod's face instead of his trademark smirk.

The inside of her ears turned a dark pink, and in a soft voice she spoke: "Once."

"Excuse me?" Nick inquired.

"Just this once, I'll let you get away with it," she clarified, fiddling with the tip of one ear.

Her comment made his heart skip a beat, and he turned his head so fast, he heard his neck pop from the sudden motion.

Judy had stopped, and for a moment he wasn't sure why. Until she opened the door she stood in front of, gesturing him to follow her inside.

Realizing that they had reached Judy's room, he couldn't help but wonder how she was able to recognize hers among the dozens and dozens they had passed.  
Especially since there was nothing on the outside to discern it from the ones around them.

With a still rapidly beating heart, the tod stepped over the threshold.

Despite the embarrassed looking doe who regarded him with a coy expression, Nick couldn't stop the amused snort that escaped his muzzle.

Judy's room was exactly the way he had imagined it... or rather, how he would have imagined it if he had thought about it.

Extremely small, with all walls painted in a strong ZPD-blue and posters plastered everywhere.  
Naturally, those weren't boyband or movie posters.  
Every single one of them showed a mammal in police uniform with a slogan next to them about what great work the ZPD does, that YOU should join them and so on and so forth.

The few wall mounted shelves sported crime novels, different figures - all clad in blue of course -, and trophies from various sports festivals.

There was one thing that slightly disturbed the room's boyish vibe, and that was the mountain of stuffed bunnies on the bed.

"And here I thought you brought all of them with you when you moved to Zootopia. I mean, you barely have any space left on your bed there and yet there are still more plushies here?"

Nick was unable to keep his laughter bottled up inside, causing the doe to roll her eyes.

"Har har, laugh it off," she replied to the tod's outburst, "you know how difficult it was for me to deal with the loneliness. Having them around me always helps me."

Seeing Judy's suddenly defensive posture and how he seemed to have actually upset her with his teasing, Nick quickly scooped up the surprised, protesting doe and carried her over to the only thing that was big enough to serve as a seat for the both of them.

He flopped down on her bed and placed the pouting, flustered bunny in his lap, holding her close to him.

"I'm sorry, Carrots. I didn't mean any harm with what I said. I was just jealous, you know. You have a perfectly fine - and here I cite you - 'cute foxy plush-toy' right with you all the time and yet you still cuddle with those stuffed bunny-imposters."

Judy relaxed a little in his embrace but still seemed unhappy about something.

"I know you were just kidding, Nick. I really do. It's just...," the doe started.

"... yeah," the fox inquired when Judy didn't finish whatever she wanted to say.

"... nothing."

"No, you don't," Nick pulled the bunny closer, resting his muzzle on her head.  
"Don't act like it's not important because it obviously is. You can't even try and hide it from me. Former street hustler, remember?"

Judy fidgeted before turning to look the tod in the face.

Biting her lower lip, she finally admitted: "Okay, something _is_ bothering me. But it's... it's not something I can talk about... yet."

Nick's features softened a little upon seeing the doe's distressed state.

"I understand. But you know you can always talk to me. About anything."

Judy snuggled back up against the fox, nodding into his chest.  
"I know. And I promise I'll tell you in time."

Understanding that he wouldn't get more out of the bunny, Nick didn't pressure her and just enjoyed their closeness.

Gradually, Judy relaxed and even started to tooth-purr when the tod wrapped his tail around her and started caressing her ears.

Nick wasn't sure if he should blame the season, the weather or anything else for the doe's need for physical contact she had shown all day... but he also didn't care for the reason at all.

He had no idea for how long they had stayed like this before Judy's ears suddenly shot up straight, and she frantically reached for the phone in her pocket.

"Oh, carrot sticks!"

"Wha...?" was all the reynard could say before Judy bolted out of his arms, dragging him along.

"Hurry up, Nick! We have less than five minutes until the presents will be handed out."

Nick watched the frantic bunny grab a jute sack from one corner of her room and throw it over her shoulder.

All the while he tried to calm down his racing heart.

He had entirely forgotten about _that_ specific part of the evening once he was holding the doe in his arms.

He snapped out of it once Judy grabbed his paw and dragged him towards the door.

"Move it, foxy."

Almost stumbling over his own paws, he stopped the doe in her tracks.  
"Wait a second. I still need to grab something from my bag."

A quick detour brought them to the guest room where they met Bonnie and Vivian, the latter of whom just left the room the second they arrived with two wrapped packages in her paws.

"Ah, there you two are," Bonnie exclaimed. "I hadn't seen you when we passed through the dining hall. Hurry now; we don't want to be the last ones."

Nick quickly rummaged through his bag, fishing out two presents as well before the four of them made their way towards the big hall.

When they arrived, the air vibrated with anticipation, and small bunnies were running back and forth between adults who tried and failed to calm them down.

It was only then that the brown sack Judy was carrying along piqued Nick's curiosity and he asked about its contents.

"With how many kits my parents have it would be impossible for them to buy presents for all of us. So it has always been tradition that only the youngest litters got something from them and the others would give presents to their littermates. These," she rearranged the sack over her shoulder, "are the ones for my littermates."

"And where are your red outfit and white beard?" the tod teased.

"Oh har har. It's better than carrying six packages around and losing half of it on my way here," she replied after her little pink tongue had darted out in his direction.

"Alright, alright. Calm down you lot."

Every pair of ears turned in the direction of the brown buck standing in the middle of the room.

When most of the bunnies had fallen silent, and only the occasional kit was murmuring, Stu continued.

"I know how eager you little rascals are to open your presents" he glanced at the small bucks and does around him, "so I'll make it quick. Every year this wonderful family grows a little bigger, and every year it seems to be more challenging to get everyone here so we can celebrate together. That's the reason why we," he put an arm around his wife who had stepped up next to him, "are so happy to see our whole family here this year. And we are excited to have some guests today, too." The buck gestured towards the two foxes who looked a little embarrassed to be put on the spot like this.  
But all the smiling faces turning in their direction made them ease up immediately.

"Thank you for inviting us here," Vivian spoke up.

"We are really grateful for this," Nick added and felt Judy slightly leaning into his side.  
When he looked down at the doe, he saw her beaming up at him with bright eyes.

Stu, who was smiling even wider than before, quickly wiped at his eyes, briefly cursing the fact that he was 'born on a rainy day', how his grandma liked to call it.

"Okay, I see that you are all getting antsy - yes, I'm looking at you, Victor."  
The little buck who had been addressed quickly withdrew the paw that had slowly but steadily reached for one of the presents his parents had sat down between their feet and tried to look as innocent as possible, causing half the room to laugh and giggle about the young one.

"So, let's not postpone this any longer. Merry Christmas, to all of you."

"Merry Christmas," came the collective reply.

With that, the whole room fell into turmoil.

Bunnies were looking for their littermates, little kits were almost getting into a frenzy while trying to open their presents and laughter, cries of surprise and happy squeals that would even rival Clawhauser's filled the air.

Nick instantly lost sight of Judy but was almost sure he spotted her black-tipped ears somewhere close to the other end of the room.

His heart beating loudly in his own ears, the tod tried to take some deep breaths.  
Hers would be the last present to hand out, but he could already feel his nerves rising.

He quickly turned towards his mom who was already holding one of the two packages she had been carrying at the ready and nodded in the direction of Bonnie and Stu.

Nick gave her a thumbs up, and they made their way through the crowd, careful not to step on any of the little kits skidding back and forth between their legs while playing with their new toys or looking for their littermates to show them what they got.

Reaching the two older bunnies, they could see the surprise in their eyes when they held out the distinctly shaped gift with a jolly 'Merry Christmas.'

Bonnie took it in her paws but looked a little guilty when she spoke.  
"We don't have anything for you."

Nick shook his head and replied: "You invited us here. That alone means a lot to us, believe me."

Stu tried to speak up, but Vivian didn't give him the chance to get a word in before adding "With so many mammals seeing us foxes as only shifty and shady creatures _and_ many prey animals being wary of any and all predators, what must seem like a simple gesture is something special to us. And even more to me. For years I had spent Christmas on my own, and the very year my son came back to me I also get to spend this holiday with such a big, lively, _lovely_ family like yours."

By that point, the vixen was sniffling, and Nick gave her a quick embrace before Bonnie hugged her. Stu had lost his fight with the tears in the meantime and was loudly blowing his nose, causing his mate to shake her head while Vivian couldn't help laugh a little at the emotional buck while wiping at her own eyes.

With a big smile, Bonnie carefully unwrapped the present.  
What she was holding in her paws now was a glass bottle.  
A wine bottle, to be more precise; with a handwritten label.

"It's one of the wines my Robert used to make. It was a hobby of his, and I know he would be more than happy to share it with you. I wish he could have met you," she explained upon seeing the quizzical looks on the two rabbits' faces.

Receiving such a meaningful gift was more than Bonnie could take and her tears started to flow as well.

After a moment she felt able to speak again and thanked the vixen with a weak voice, telling her that they should drink some together later.

Both foxes agreed to this, and before long, some of Bonnie and Stu's older kits approached them, wanting to hand them some presents as well.  
Bonnie excused herself to take the bottle of wine somewhere safe while Stu stayed to accept the gifts.

For Nick and Vivian that was the cue to retreat a little.

It was obvious to the tod that his mom was overjoyed by the bunnies' unbridled happiness.  
Heck, his own tail was still wagging, and he quickly wiped away a stray tear from the corner of his eye.

This Christmas had become one of the best he ever experienced, and he hoped that wouldn't change.

His thoughts were interrupted by a yellow wrapped present that suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

Vivian was looking at him expectantly, so Nick quickly took it and handed over the one he had prepared for his mom.

Unwrapping each other's gift at the same time, the two foxes froze, disbelief showing on their faces.

The tod was looking at a tie.

But not just any tie.

He clearly remembered that particular one: black with very fine green and violet lines crisscrossing it in a diagonal pattern.  
It was the very same one his dad used to wear; a present from _his_ dad when he had inherited their family business, a tailoring shop named Suit-topia.

The vixen on the other paw was holding a framed picture of her family.

A picture she had thought was lost.

In it, her husband Robert was holding a tiny little fox cub in one arm while having the other one slung around her.  
They were standing in the living room of their new home, both adults smiling like they hadn't a care in the world, and back then they felt that way.

Looking at each other, both couldn't believe what they were holding in paws.  
The next moment, Vivian was holding her son in her arms, shedding silent tears while both quietly whispered a 'Merry Christmas' to each other.

When they let go, Nick hesitated for a moment, looking his mom in the eyes.  
The same green eyes as his.

"I'm so sorry for leaving you alone all these years," he said with his ears plastered against his head.

"And you should be," came the vixens reply.  
But the next moment, her frown turned into an honest smile.  
"But I'm glad that you came back to me. That you are here now is all that matters."

Her eyes wandered down to the last present her son was holding.

It was a small, violet gift box that sported a filigrain pattern of winding lines and was wrapped with a green ribbon.

Following his mom's gaze, Nick could feel the heat rise to his cheeks.

"Oh, that one is for..."

"... for Judy," Vivian interrupted with a knowing grin.

Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, the tod asked: "I have really been that obvious, huh?"

The vixen chuckled at her son's bashful behavior.  
"I could just say it's a mother's intuition, but... yes you have been quite easy to read. And I think the scene in front of those Christmas trees was very romantic," she added with a little nudge.

"How do you... who told you... why?" Nick was suddenly feeling very hot under his fur, wondering how many mammals had actually witnessed it.

"Relax, Nicky. Bonnie told me about it when she showed them to me earlier. She admitted that afterward, she felt it was such a shame that she had interrupted you two like this."

It took the reynard a moment until he fully grasped the meaning of the words he had just heard.

"Are you telling me that she is fine with it?"

A grin and a nod was her reply, and Nick felt himself relax a little, knowing that Judy's mom was supporting them.

Only that there wasn't a 'them' yet.

 _What if there won't be an 'us'?_ a part of him wondered.

 _No! Don't let it pull you down until you tried. If you should have learned anything from Judy by now, it's this_ , another part replied.

The tense lines around his muzzle and eyes were softening, and his ears started to stand up in determination.

He felt his mom squeezing his arm once, and when he looked up from the present in his paw, he found her soft, encouraging gaze on him.

The fox took a deep breath and turned around to look for the doe, only to almost run into her when she appeared from between two other bunnies.

Nearly dropping his gift, Nick took a quick step to the side, catching Judy who was about to trip over her own feet when trying to evade as well.  
Looking at each other, both burst into laughter at the silliness of that situation.

"You alright there, Fluff?" Nick asked while steadying the doe.

"I'm fine. Sorry for almost running into you," Judy replied, still looking a little flustered at their near-collision.

The fox just shrugged it off with a grin.

Though it vanished when he realized that now the moment had finally come.  
He had been looking forward to it and dreaded it at the same time.

With another deep breath to steel his nerves, he made his move.

"It's a good thing that I found you so quickly, Judy. I wanted to give you something."

The bunny's ears perked up at that.  
Nick using her given name was a rarity and made her heart skip a beat.

Holding out the present to her, the tod tried his hardest not to let it show how tense he was, to not let his paws tremble or his fur stand up in nervousness.

Judy's eyes were skipping back and forth between the present and the fox's face, taking in his serious expression.

Swallowing, she reached out and undid the ribbon.  
Before she could open the little box, though, Nick lifted the lid himself, showing the content of the present to the doe.

Inside, resting on a nest of black cloth there was a round silver pendant. Embedded in it was a bright, heart-shaped amethyst with little emeralds framing it.

Judy's gasp at the unexpected present was drawing the attention of some of the bunnies around them and her not very softly spoken "Sweet cheese and… oh, Nick," was piquing the interest of some more.

While the grey doe was focused on the piece of jewelry that was about half the size of her palm, Nick tried his hardest to ignore the rising number of eyes and ears turning in their direction.

 _This is all about Judy right now. Don't pay attention to the other hundreds of rabbits in the room._

With a mental sigh, he forced anything else to the back of his mind, focusing only on the lovely lagomorph in front of him.

"It reminded me of you, Carrots," he stated in a quiet voice, drawing the doe's attention back to him.

Bright, mauve eyes regarded him with a curious look, prompting him to explain.

His features softened once he started talking.

"Beautiful, silver-colored fur. Stunning, violet eyes. And a bright, clear heart. It's a perfect description of you."

Nick could see how Judy's eyes got glassy upon hearing those words and he quickly interrupted her when she tried to say something.

There was more that he wanted to tell her and he was afraid if he lost his momentum now, he would lose his courage along with it.

With deft fingers he lifted the pendant out of the box by its chain, letting it dangle in front of the bunny's eyes before turning it around to show her the back.

The other half was different.  
It was made of rose gold with an emerald embedded in it, framed by tiny amethysts.

"And I hope this side reminds you of me. It represents how close we are. How close I feel to you. Because as different as we are at times; as different as we might look on the outside, there is no mammal I feel closer to than you; no mammal that balances me out as you do; no mammal I feel connected to the way I feel to you."

Glassy eyes had turned into little droplets that were slowly running down the doe's cheeks; paws half-covering a shaky smile.

But the tod had one last thing he wanted to get off his chest, so he swallowed the lump in his throat, trying his hardest not to tear up himself.

When he spoke again, his voice was a little croaky, and his paws had finally started to tremble while he put the pendant around Judy's neck.

"There is a third meaning to this. Something I wanted to tell you for quite a while now but never had the courage to."

The tod swallowed again while every mammal in the huge hall had fallen silent, waiting for the vulpine's next words.

"Judy, you are the most amazing, beautiful, compassionate and upbeat mammal I've ever met and I love you for that. I love how your nose twitches oh so slowly when you are deep in thought. I love how your foot starts thumping when you are agitated. I love how one of your ears flop over when you are baffled. I love how your buckteeth show when you are yawning. I love how you roll those stunning eyes of yours when I tell you my silly jokes. I love how you still _laugh_ about those jokes. And there is so much more I could tell you. What I want to say is: You have already stolen it from me long ago, so this present is to tell you: you have my heart. And if you want to keep it, it's all yours."

The rabbit in front of him was openly crying now. Big bunny-tears were leaving wet trails in her fur.  
When she opened her muzzle to answer him, no sound came forth.  
After she had tried a couple of times without success, she quickly shook her head and reached for the present she had placed on the ground between her feet.

Taking it, Nick looked at the doe with confusion.  
Nodding, she wordlessly gestured him to go ahead.

He opened it and looked inside, a blank expression appearing on his face.

 _Vegetables?_

He took the green plant out of its box, holding it up a little for closer inspection.

 _Wait, is that a...?_

He looked at Judy, and the moment he faced in her direction, soft bunny-lips met his.

His eyes bulged out in surprise before he closed them and leaned into the kiss, putting one paw to the doe's cheek and the other one on the small of her back, pulling her a little closer while the mistletoe still dangled from one of his claws.

The silence of the room was pierced by one excited shout that Vivian was sure came from Mellida, before the rest of the amassed bunnies erupted into loud whistling, cheering and applause.

When the two young mammals finally broke their kiss - both being a little short of breath - they looked at each other with equally blissful smiles and, so softly that only they could catch it, told each other what they had both wanted to hear for a long time now.

"I love you."

Belated, they realized the turmoil around them.

Nick could feel the heat that crept to his face and was convinced his blush was easily visible even through his thick, red coat.

Judy had pulled her ears down over face to hide her own flushed cheeks.  
But she couldn't hide the huge, happy grin splitting her face.

Conversations had broken out all around them.

"Have you seen that kiss?"

"Gosh, they look so lovely together!"

"About time!"

"Congratulations, you two!"

"I have never seen Jude so happy."

"Nick is so handsome. Judy is really lucky."

"Do you think he has a brother?"

"Do you think he has a _sister_?"

"Do you think they'd let me join in?" _THWACK_

"Ouch, what did I do?"

"I don't mind that he is a predator. You know, there is that handsome otter in my class..."

"I actually think that Ferret Williams is quite cute."

"Have you ever seen JuJu blushing so hard?"

"Wait, they hadn't been a couple before?!"

"I wish I had filmed this."

"I _have_ filmed it."

"Just imagine what it must be like with a _predator_." _THWACK_

"Ouch, _WHAT DID I DO?!_ "

That was more than Judy could take.

Grabbing his paw, she dragged Nick through the dining hall towards the door in an attempt to escape.

But the tod just couldn't help opening his muzzle before they left the room.  
"Thank you all for your support. And to whoever wanted to 'join in': I'm sorry, but there is only one bunny in my life and ever will be."

The last word had barely left his lips before they vanished around the corner.  
Though he could still hear the disappointed: "Awww, dang it."

 _THWACK_

* * *

"Just drop 'em here? Seriously, Nick?" Judy giggled against the fox's chest.

After they had left the dining hall the doe had dragged Nick down multiple corridors winding through the burrow until they reached a flight of stairs going upwards.

When they entered the room at the end of the stairs, the tod was surprised to find a quite large living room with windows facing outwards.

Judy had explained that while the only entrance to the warren was the one they came in through earlier that day, there were multiple of these above ground living rooms. From the outside, they just looked like small hills in the landscape unless you notice the windows.

Strewn all over the room were multiple small tables with four to six chairs.  
Some armchairs and various couches were facing in the direction of a fireplace in which right now a lively fire was cackling.

By the time they had arrived, no one else was there.  
Not wanting to be spotted right away Judy and Nick had decided to retreat to a corner, making themselves comfortable on one of the wide windowsills.

Sitting right in front of a window offered them a nice view of the wintery landscape while the radiator below the windowsill warmed their rear ends.

Not that Judy was in need of that since she was sitting square on Nick's lap, snuggling into her fox.

 _MY fox_.

That thought had been running rounds and rounds inside her head once reality had caught up with her.

A little apart from them, four mammals were sitting at one of the tables, looking over at the young couple.

"If somebody would have told me some years ago that my son would date a bunny, I would have laughed about them. Loudly," Vivian said with a fond expression on her face.

"I would have done the same," Bonnie admitted with a small nod, "but looking at them now makes me realize all over again how wonderfully unique our kits are."

"They are indeed," the vixen agreed, earning a confirmative hum from Mellida, who was sitting next to her.

"And from the way they were acting around each other it seemed inevitable for them to become a couple in hindsight," the white-furred doe added, earning another round of nods from the other two females.

"Wait, are you telling me you all knew that something was going on between Nicholas and our Jude-the-dude?" A bewildered Stu was staring at the three females who were looking at him in kind, shaking their heads in disbelief.

"Oh Dad," Mellida was chuckling about the older buck while Bonnie was giving her husband a consolidating smooch on the cheek.

"What? It wasn't that obvious, was it?" the buck protested a little doubtfully.

"And what about the way they were standing in front of the Christmas tree, arm in arm? And Judy's special little bauble for Nick? _And_ the way they embraced and looked at each other?" Bonnie argued.

"... oh!" was the male's sole answer to that.

Then he remembered how he had sneezed and interrupted the moment, and his ears dropped.

"Oh!"

The second one was too much, and all three females burst into laughter at the bucks downtrodden expression.

"Mind if we join in?" a sudden voice interrupted them.

Nick was standing at their table with a slightly bashful looking Judy next to him, holding the fox's paw.

"Sure," Vivian said with a smirk, "that way it's easier to watch you two."

Nick gave his mom a quizzical look while sitting down.  
"How long _have_ you been watching us already?"

"Oh, maybe about half an hour," the vixen replied, regarding her claws with disinterest.

The young couple looked at the four mammals in disbelief.

"Half an... but we... I didn't...," Judy was stammering, unable to wrap her head around the fact that she hadn't realized a thing.

With a laugh, Bonnie waved it off.  
"Don't worry, Sweetie. I know quite well what it feels like to be freshly in love and having eyes and ears only for each other."

Judy wasn't sure if that should comfort her or not, but she was blushing furiously, remembering that she had stolen quite a couple of kisses from her fox and had nuzzled under his chin so she could feel even closer to him.

Nick on the other paw had caught himself and was laughing at the revelation.  
"I see, we must be the talk of the warren by now, I take it?"

"The way I know my kits, you'll probably be the talk of all of Bunnyburrow before the sun rises," Bonnie answered nonchalantly.

When Judy laid her head down on the table, groaning loudly, the older doe decided it was time for a new topic. She didn't want to torture her daughter any more than necessary.

"How about we indulge a little in some blueberry wine, now that we are sitting here together," she asked with a smile, producing the bottle that had stood next to her chair, waiting for the occasion.

After everyone had taken a first sip, sighing at the sweet taste and in Nick's case even licking his chops, the conversation moved a little away from Judy and Nick.

The six of them were talking about anything and everything while the evening slowly turned into night.

The other bunnies who had lingered around in the living room gradually took their leave, wishing them a good night and congratulating them, warming the both young mammals' hearts with their acceptance of their unusual relationship.  
Judy had more or less expected it, but for Nick the fact that they hadn't heard a single bad word or slight was a genuine surprise, even considering it was the doe's family.

When it was drawing close to midnight, Stu, Bonnie, Vivian, and Mellida wished them a good night as well, reminding them that they had to get up early the next day to take their train home.

Once Nick and Judy were alone in the living room the doe left her seat to climb into the fox's lap and snuggled up against him, a content sigh escaping her lips.

The tod was convinced he would never grow tired of the affection this bunny was showing him.  
Wrapping his arms and tail around her, he briefly nuzzled her head.

Putting a kiss on the doe's ear, Nick reluctantly said: "You know, Fluff, we should probably head to bed."

But Judy just shook her head against the fox's chest.

Sensing that there was more to it than just a slightly tipsy and cuddly bunny, he asked "What's the matter, Sweetheart? Something is bothering you, isn't it?"

This time the doe nodded against his front, and after a moment, she spoke up.  
"Remember that I promised you to explain my behavior back in my room?"

The tod gave her an affirmative hum.

"It's... well... you had just hit a nerve. The stuffed bunnies back in my apartment in Zootopia are there so that I don't feel lonely. And that was more or less enough for a while. But after we held the first movie night at my place, it was so much more difficult to fall asleep."

"How is that?" the fox asked while caressing Judy's ears.

For a minute, the doe remained silent, making Nick wonder if she had fallen asleep. But then she answered.

"Because that was when I realized that I'm in love with you."

In his surprise, he stopped running his paw down the bunny's ears, causing Judy to look up at him.

"That was right after I came back from the academy," Nick marveled.

The doe nodded.

"You've been in love with me for more than one and a half year?"

Another nod.

The tod placed a long kiss on his bunny's muzzle.

"That means I still got about three months on you," he softly stated with a wink.

"Wait a moment," the doe blinked once, trying to wrap her head around what Nick had just told her.

"That means you have been in love with me..."

"...since my time at the ZPA, correct," the tod finished her sentence.

"And we have waited that long to finally admit it."  
Judy couldn't help but wail when she realized how much time she had wasted fretting and agonizing over it.

Good for her that her fox had a remedy to her miserable mood.  
He gently scratched her around an ear, placing a small peck on her forehead.  
When she looked upwards at him, she was met with another, deeper kiss that left her short of breath but also brought a smile back to her face.

"Better late than never," the fox stated in a serious voice, leaning in until their noses touched.

Sharing a breath with the mammal she loved, she had to agree with him.

They had found each other and fallen in love against all the odds, from the social norms dictated by society through to their less-than-favorable first meeting.

She could consider herself a very lucky bunny.

Seeing how Judy's spirits had been lifted, the tod's curiosity gained the upper hand, and he took up their earlier conversation.

"So, how is that connected to stuffed bunnies and you missing out on sleep?" he inquired.

"As I said, I had realized at that time that I'm in love with you. Partially because I had a hard time falling asleep, suddenly missing you after you had gone home while your scent still lingered on my bed since we sat there the whole evening. Partially because the two annoyances next door kept debating loudly about if you were my boyfriend or not. It got worse when we started cuddling during movie nights. I mean, I loved it, but afterward I missed having you around even more," the doe clarified.

"All I want is to fall asleep next to you and wake up the same way," Judy admitted, suddenly sniffling.

Saying that Nick's heart skipped a beat at that revelation would be an understatement.

It was beating to a whole new rhythm, momentarily making him feel dizzy, and he wondered if all of this was just a very detailed dream. Or had he died, and this was his personal little piece of heaven?

But no, there was a very real, very warm, breathing bunny sitting in his lap, holding him tight like she was afraid he would vanish if she let go.

He knew what he wanted to do. And it was the direct opposite of running away.

He put one paw to her chin, gently lifting her head so she would look at him and placed another small kiss on Judy's lips.

"I think it's time you move out of your tiny little shoebox of an apartment," he stated.

"What does this have..."

"And since my place is not only bigger than yours but also a little closer to work _and_ in a better condition, you should move in with me. That is if you don't think it's too ear-mph!"

The fox wasn't able to finish his sentence before the doe assaulted him with a barrage of small pecks on whatever spot of his face she could reach, causing him to grab the table's edge so as to not topple over backwards.

When she finally stopped - not without kissing him passionately square on the muzzle - Nick needed a moment to collect his thoughts and catch his breath.

"I'll take that as a yes?" he asked at last.

"Definitely," Judy answered, still blushing hard from her somewhat extreme reaction to his suggestion.

"Though, I'm afraid you'll have to sleep alone for today. I don't think your dad would be all too thrilled if I would sneak into your room to stay with you all night. As great a guy as he is, he might actually skin me and hang my pelt over that fireplace over there, if I try that."

Judy's disheartened expression at the realization that the fox was right vanished the instant he mentioned the fireplace.

Her eyes flickered from the still cackling flames to him, and the next moment she shot out of his lap and towards the stairs, only stopping for a second to call back over her shoulder.  
"I'll be right back. Give me two minutes."

She was gone before the tod could answer, leaving him right there with a confused expression on his muzzle and one of his ears standing straight up while the other one was sticking out sideways in a quizzical manner.

True to her word, Judy returned before the minute hand of the grandfather clock standing across from him finished its second round.

And carrying in her arms, she was...

"Is that a blanket?" the fox asked, wondering what his bunny had come up with.

"And a pillow," Judy replied, making a beeline for the group of couches.

Finally connecting the dots, Nick followed the doe.

"Are you sure you want to sleep on a small couch for the rest of the night? It might get cramped with the both of us," he pointed out.

"Fine by me," was Judy's reply, "or are you trying to tell me you don't want to fall asleep together?"

Before she had even finished her question, the fox was already lying on the couch, opening his arms for the bunny.

With a happy chirp, Judy hopped on top of him, coming to rest on Nick's chest.  
She snuggled up against him, enjoying the tod's warmth while he covered them both with the blanket.

Wrapped up in three layers now of which two were Nick's arms and tail, Judy gave off a content sigh that was almost drowned out by the tod's rumbling purr.

Both knew that they were exactly where they wanted to be; where they were meant to be.

Feeling a little drowsy, Judy looked back at the events of the last hours, fiddling with her new pendant.  
She nuzzled her fox under the chin and spoke in a soft, sleepy voice.  
"I'm still surprised that you really said all those things in front of my whole family, you crazy fox."

A small, teasing smile was playing on her lips when she felt Nick slightly tensing up beneath her.

"That hadn't been a part of the plan, to be honest. Remember when I invited you to celebrate with my mom and me?"

Judy slowly nodded against the tod's chest.

"After we would have eaten dinner I would have asked you to take a stroll with me. There is a small park close to my mom's house, and every year they decorate it for Christmas with thousands of lights, tinsel garlands, ice sculptures and ornaments. They would give even your family a run for their money," Nick's eyes lightened up when he described the scenery he had looked at every year while trying to work up the courage to visit his mom.

"There I would have given you your present and told you all those things I wanted to tell you for so long."

Judy gently grabbed the fox's muzzle, turning his head so she could kiss him once more.  
"I never knew you had such a romantic site to you."

Nick caressed the bunny's cheek who leaned into his touch.  
"What can I say, you bring out the best in me."

"Corny fox," the doe teased.

"Emotional bunny," the tod replied, wiping a single, stray tear from her cheek.

The smirk that had accompanied his words turned into a genuine smile while he gazed deeply into her beautiful amethyst eyes

"I love you, Judy," he said before kissing his bunny tenderly, making her heart skip two beats in a row.

"I love you too, Nick," she replied after they broke the kiss.

Their eyelids began to feel heavy with the excitement of the day finally wearing off, and they made themselves comfortable.

Her head coming to rest on the reynard's chest, Judy listened to her fox's heartbeat while slowly drifting asleep.

When her breathing was slow and even, telling Nick that his bunny had fallen asleep, he briefly gave her cheek a small, affectionate lick before closing his eyes as well.

The crackling of the fire mixed with two mammals' soft breathing were the only sounds filling the dimly lit room.

The snow outside gently drifted down to the ground, snowflakes peeking in from the silence of the night.

And the dancing shadows cast on the walls by the warm light watched over the young couple's peaceful sleep.

* * *

A special thank you to my friend Quakky who took the time to proofread this story and sniff out some stray typos and missing words. Thanks, buddy ;-)

And with that, I wish all of you a merry, fluffy little Christmas :-)


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

Alright. _Finally_ there it is. The long-awaited second chapter for Gift-Wrapped Heart.  
And _nooo_ , I'm not over three months late for Christmas, I'm almost nine months early. That's how it is!  
*does an overdone victory pose*

...  
*Cough, cough*  
Well, alright now. Let me quickly thank my buddy Quakky once more for his services as a beta- and proofreader before I leave you to your readings.

P.S.: In case you didn't see it yet, Gift-Wrapped Heart got a lovely cover art... which is far too small here on FFN to see what it is. If you are curious, why not head over to my AO3 account and see it in all it's glory together with a link to the artist's site?

* * *

Silence.

It filled the little space the vixen shared with two other mammals.

Not absolute silence, mind you.  
It was broken by the monotonous, mechanical rumbling the train she was traveling in emitted, and the soft breathing of said two mammals, faint enough to be almost inaudible.

Green eyes rose from the pages of a book to gaze out into the darkness beyond the compartment's window. Little snowflakes whirled by, dancing in the draft the moving vehicle created and tapping against the glass every so often before they vanished back into the night.

The traces of a smile played around the female's lips as she was reminded of a very similar evening just one year before.

Her gaze met her reflection's.  
Green stared into green.  
Her own eyes.  
Her son's eyes.

Turning her head a little, she peeked at the tod sitting across from her and her smile widened.

 _Still out like a light._

The male red fox sat slumped down in his seat, the sound of his slow, deep breaths mixed with the ones of the grey-furred female next to him. His tail wound around both their midsections in his sleep.

And again the vixen was reminded of the past, though last time her son was awake while his mate-to-be had snuggled up against his side, wrapped in the fox's tail, while he had looked at her with love and longing.  
Now both painted a perfect picture of content bliss, his head resting atop of hers while each of his breaths ruffled her fur oh so slightly.  
Where last time he had merely slung his arm around her, their paws were now intertwined, both reluctant to let go of each other even in their sleep.

A light reflection drew the vixen's attention, and warmth spread throughout her chest.  
While the grey bunny-doe had only been a friend to her son back then had that changed the very same evening.

Vivian still remembered her kit's words. Words that had carried his whole heart and soul in an attempt to reach his beloved partner.  
And the small, round pendant with the heart-shaped gem he had given her as a sign - a metaphor as much as a promise - that she now wore around her neck was proof that she had heard his plea loud and clear.

And she had answered in kind.  
It had been the night when Judy Hopps had accepted her best friend's and partner's feelings, shedding tears that had waited to be shed for too long.

Vivian's gaze shifted by a fraction.  
There was another reflection that made a mist raise into her eyes.  
Twinkling at her from their paws, there sat two simple golden bands announcing to the world that those two mammals had chosen each other as mates for life.

She observed how the doe shifted a little in her sleep, burrowing her petite nose into her mate's neck-fur before lying still again. Nick's tongue slowly peeked out between his lips, licking her ear for just one stroke before remaining in that position.

A soft chuckle escaped the vixen, and with a smirk that was a perfect mirror of her son's usual lopsided grin, she took out her phone to quickly take a picture. She would enjoy teasing both young mammals later, though was aware at the same time that it would probably not draw more than an amused laugh from the tod. He had inherited her talent for aggravating others, after all, and was able to play the receiving part as well.

Even more than that, it seemed he had lived by her advice not to let others see that they got to him. She had given him those words after an incident with the junior ranger scouts that had left the little fox saddened and disillusioned.

Once Nick had returned, he had needed some time and courage to open up to her. From what her son had told her about his life after he had left their home, it seemed he had taken her words to heart a little too seriously. Instead of using them as a shield to protect himself from harm when need, he had used them to build a wall, shutting out every other mammal.

That made his relationship with the young, bright-eyed bunny even more exceptional in Vivian's opinion. Judy had been the one to drag her son out of his shell, out of his social solitude which he had retreated to in order to never get hurt again.

She had known that something special was going on between them the moment Nick had introduced Judy after showing up at her doorstep again after almost twenty years. And she hadn't missed the way her son had looked at the bunny when she pinned his badge to him during his graduation ceremony.  
Joy, pride, and warmth had mixed in his loving gaze back then.

 _Partners in crime fighting, partners in love._  
The thought brought a smile to Vivian's face. Not that both of them looked much like police officers at the moment. More like little kits, dead to the world after a long, eventful day.

She couldn't blame them. Unlike the year before, this season had been a challenging one for the whole ZPD. Crime had spiked in comparison to prior months, and it seemed like a bug was going around, putting mammals out of commission left and right, causing the staff at Precinct One to wear thin.

It was bordering on a miracle that they had even gotten some time off this Christmas to celebrate with the Hopps family again. A miracle or a present from their chief who had thought his two smallest officers, who had pulled their weight and then some... and then some more, deserved some time off before they actually broke down.  
A wise decision if she had ever seen one.

During the last couple of days, her son had already looked exhausted enough to play one of the zombies in 'Fawn of the Dead'. And Judy wasn't far behind, her fur looking dull while there were dark rings under her eyes. Dizziness had even forced her to go home earlier one day, visiting a doctor before resting at home.

Vivian had been afraid the energetic doe had caught whatever was going around, but it seemed she really had simply overworked herself.  
Even if it was just two days, but this short time-out would hopefully help them recharge their batteries at least partially.

Seeing as how those two slept the sleep of the just, Vivian wondered if she could risk taking a nap as well. A look at her wristwatch told her that she only had about half an hour until they would arrive in Bunnyburrow. At least more or less, since her old watch had a habit of straying from the actual time.  
Considering that she would barely get any rest that way, she decided she could just as well stay awake, making sure they wouldn't miss their stop.

Her gaze lingered on the chronometer for a while.  
At a first glimpse, it looked like a rather simple one. It was small and unimpressive, held in a silver-optic. A filigree pattern of lines adorned each segment of the watchstrap, worn down by time and barely visible when one didn't take a closer look. It rarely left the vixen's wrist, an assortment of scratches was evidence of that. And for a good reason.

The back of the watch showed what made it so special to her.  
An inscription read 'To my beloved wife, who stayed with me for the last ten years. May we count many more'.  
Only half a year after that anniversary her Robert had passed away.

The time after that had been grueling, raising a kit all on her own without her lifemate.  
Memories blurred her vision for a moment.  
The pain would never entirely go away. She knew that.

But she was blessed enough to have a life that was still filled with happiness after everything that had happened. Once more her eyes were drawn to the young mammals in front of her, her muzzle parting in a smile.

Her son.  
Her daughter-in-law.  
Her extended family that came with it.

She still couldn't believe how much her life had changed through that small-looking bunny.  
A thought that she knew had crossed her Nicky's mind often enough as well.

Shaking off the chains of her past, she picked up her book again. It was a classic, one she had read probably about a hundred times throughout her life. But she still loved the story of Robin Hood. Maid Marian's lifemate; an outlaw; a hero for the suppressed and poor.  
If not for the fact that he had been a thief, maybe he would have become the patron for all foxes. But the way it was, gentle Marian who protected every mammal under her care, no matter their species, age, or gender was a more positive personality to choose, even if that meant Robin had stayed in the shadows of history for a long time. Though if the stories were right, he probably would have preferred it that way.

* * *

Before long the PA system came to life, informing them that they would soon reach Bunnyburrow Station.

Roused by the announcement, Judy and Nick began to move, slowly unraveled from each other's embrace, and stretched to loosen up their muscles.

Judy wiped the sleep from her eyes just before her husband stole a kiss from her, drawing a pleased chirr form the doe.  
"G'morning Sweetheart."  
"'Morning' is good," she scratched him under the chin, taking a look out the window towards the approaching lights of the train station which sat in the darkness of the late evening.

"Do my two favorite kits feel well rested now?" a voice from across them drew their attention.  
"Definitely a lot better than before, though a good night's sleep will be better still," Nick answered while standing up.

He reached into the overhead rack and started to hand out their jackets and scarfs to the two females.  
"Still quite tired, but not as exhausted anymore," Judy accepted the garments handed to her and put them on. "What about you, Vivian? Did you get any sleep?"  
The vixen shook her head. "But that's alright. By the time I thought about taking a nap we were almost here anyway. I'll make do for now."  
"You sure?" Judy asked with a grin. "You know the kits will swarm you once they lay eyes on you."  
"And I'm looking forward to it," Vivian smiled back and picked up her luggage, refusing to let her son take it in addition to his and his wife's.

As soon as the train came to a halt and the doors opened to the cold Bunnyburrow air, her smile widened. "Seems it will be sooner rather than later."

Only a handful of mammals stood on the platform.  
Six of them approached the little group, though one little bunny broke into a waddling half-run.

"Vivan!" the high pitched, happy yell caused the heads of close-by mammals to turn in their direction, taking in the sight of a little buck running joyfully towards a vixen who had kneeled down with outstretched arms.  
With a hop he threw himself at Vivian, laughing when she heaved him up and spun them around once before nuzzling the little bunny's cheek.

"Rupert, my have you grown since I've last seen you." She looked the sand-colored kit up and down.  
"I did?" He peered at her with big, shining eyes. "But it was just a week!"  
"You sure grow fast," she confirmed with a serious expression, earning her another giggle.

In the meantime, the rest of their welcoming committee had stepped closer.  
"Sorry for the raiding party right upon your arrival, Vivi."  
Moving the young buck so she could easily hold him in one arm, Vivian turned to face the other five lagomorphs, hugging the dark-brown doe who had addressed her.  
"It's quite alright, Ally. I'm happy to see the little rugrabbits again so soon."  
She gently ruffled the little female kit's headfur that was held by her mother - snuggling against her - and elicited a small giggle from her. "Hey there Hazel."

The concolorous grey kit looked at Vivian with bright blue eyes, which were only a couple of hues away from Judy's violet ones. With the one paw that wasn't grasping at her mom's parka, she held her stuffed bunny tightly to her chest.  
"Come on Hazel, what do you say?" Alicia gently prompted her daughter.  
"Hi Vivan," the little one replied meekly but with a smile.  
The vixen couldn't help a chuckle. "Still as shy as ever, you sweet thing."

A tug at her scarf drew her attention downwards to the two other kits, one of them still holding the end of the garment in her tiny paw.  
"Of course I haven't forgotten about you," she laughed, kneeling once more to pull them into a one-armed hug with her free paw. "How could I forget any of my favorite bunnies, huh, Yasmine? Polly?" She quickly nuzzled both of them around the ears in turn, causing them to squeal happily at the touch of her cold, wet nose.

"We missed you, Vivan," Yasmine - black with only a few white splotches in the fur around one eye - piped up.  
"Yeah, we missed you," her sister - of the same brown-yellow color as their brother - agreed.  
"But we saw each other just last week," Vivian pointed out what Rupert had loudly emphasized just moments ago.  
"That's too long," Yasmine pouted.  
"Yeah, too long," Polly followed suit, curling her lips the same way.  
"I know, I know. I missed you, too," she couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice entirely.

"They really love you to pieces," the buck next to Alicia noted with a smile.  
Giving the slightly chubby, brown male - whose fur was only the barest nuance lighter than his wife's - a hug as well, Vivian returned his smile. "Believe me, Frank, it's mutual. I'm so glad Ally asked me to cubsit them once she and the little ones decided to follow their father and move to Zootopia."  
"I'm glad you were willing to help us out," he admitted.

Though he still felt a little ashamed of himself.  
His wife had promised that she had never told Vivian of his reservations towards the vixen. Considering that she was a predator - and a fox at that - he had been a little scared to leave his kits alone with her and it had taken his mate no small amount of convincing to get him to the point where he was willing to meet up with the vulpine and get to know her first.  
His suspicions had been shattered once he witnessed how his son was almost beside himself with joy upon seeing her.  
Again, as his wife reminded him later.  
And Vivian herself was kind, if not a little snarky. He couldn't help but like her and agreed that if she were willing to, they would be happy to have her looking after their kits.

He turned towards Nick and Judy, quickly pulling both of them into an embrace as well after Alicia had done the same.  
"How is life with your family in the big city treating you?" Judy asked, directing the question at both her sister and brother-in-law.  
"If you would call or write a little more often you would know," Alicia shot her a fake frown that soon melted into an amused chuckle. "But I guess between keeping Zootopia save and getting used to the life of a married couple it's easy to lose track of time, eh?" Her last words were laced with a suggestiveness that made the grey doe's ears burn. Though she still leaned against her fox, smiling when he put his arm around her. "I'd say you have no idea, but I guess you pretty much do."

Both couldn't help but giggle like teenagers.  
The next moment Alicia's features turned contemplative.  
"You haven't yet decided what to do about... well, starting a family of your own?"  
"Since we both are different species," Nick spoke up, softly squeezing his mate's shoulder, "it's impossible for us to have kits of our own. But we haven't yet talked about adoption if that's what you mean."  
He felt Judy reach up and grab his paw gently with her tiny one, pressing a light kiss to his index finger but saying nothing otherwise.

Alicia saw the warmth in both their expressions, telling her enough about the unspoken agreement both apparently had already come to.  
"No matter how many kits you'll have and of whatever species they'll be, I have no doubt they will be loved and cared for like no other."

Surprise crossed their faces, and their eyes were drawn to each others'.  
Features softened, and Alicia almost expected the word 'love' to appear on their foreheads in bright neon letters.  
"And they will have the most awesome grandma," Vivian interjected, nudging her son with an elbow.  
"Yeah, Bonnie is really great," the tod replied without missing a beat which earned him a flick to the ear by his mom and a punch to the shoulder by his wife.

Flinching at the double assault by both females he put on his most convincing innocent act. "What? Are you trying to tell me Bonnie isn't a great mother," he pointedly looked at Judy, "or wouldn't be a great grandmother?"  
The doe rolled her eyes and yet an amused huff escaped her lips while Vivian chuckled at her son's false, dignified air.  
" _Two_ awesome grandmas." she corrected herself.  
"Agreed," he laughed.

A sneeze interrupted their banter, sounding from the little fluffball on Vivian's arm.  
The vixen pulled a clean tissue from her pocket and held it to the kit's nose. "Blow your nose, little man."

While Nick watched his mom interacting with Rupert, he felt the by then familiar longing as well as the tiny sting of doubt in his chest.  
 _Being a father... wonder if I would..._ will _be a good one._  
At the same time, he felt his bunny softly squeeze his paw again as if she heard his thought and wanted to reassure him.

"I guess we should get moving before one of us catches a cold," Frank suggested, earning him nods from the mammals present.  
And none too soon it seemed since the snowfall started to thicken again the moment they reached the parking lot. This time a powder-blue van was waiting for them, the vehicle being big enough to fit in Alicia and Frank's little family as well as their visitors.

Vivian opted to take the seats right behind the driver's together with Rupert who she placed in the safety seat next to her while Alicia did the same with Hazel in the seat adjacent her brother's. Judy and Nick sat in the back row with the remaining duo between them.

"You sure you don't want me to sit with them? They can be quite a pawful," Alicia asked.  
"I've been growing up with hundreds of siblings. Do you really think I will despair at two of my nieces now?" Judy placed Polly in the seat, making sure she was secured while Nick did the same with Yasmine. Judy couldn't help but stop in her tracks for a moment, her own seatbelt in paw. Her mate's expression was warm with a soft smile while he handled the little kit. It was captivating to her.

The sound of Alicia's door closing shook her from her thoughts, and she caught her sister's gaze in the rear mirror.  
 _Whoah, deja vu,_ Judy thought when the dark-brown doe shot her a knowing wink, though admittedly last time the face smirking at her had been white with a chocolate brown splotch of fur around the nose.

Fastening her seatbelt with an affirmative click Judy chanced another glance at Nick. The fox paid rapt attention to Yasmine who happily chittered away at him, describing in as much detail as possible how her day had been, accentuated by her sister verifying every other word she said.

The same happened one row in front of her as well where Vivian was under verbal assault from Ruppert.  
It was always a pleasure to the vixen to see with how much fascination young kits looked at the world around them. A walk through the park could be to them like a ride in the most exciting rollercoaster, just because they saw a giraffe.

"She was sooooo big," the buck held his arms apart as far as he could.  
"Really, that big?" Vivian asked in feigned surprise.  
"Mhm, and she was yellow, and had brown spots, and a long neck, and hooves, and a long tongue, and weird horns. And there was also this elfant who was really loud, like this."  
The vixen chuckled at Rupert's mispronunciation. Not that she hadn't 'suffered' from this as well considering how all the little ones had adapted one of Rupert's earliest jumbled up words by calling her 'Vivan'.

The young bunny tried to imitate an elephant's trumpeting by holding his arm to his nose like it was a trunk while blowing through his pursed lips, giving off a sound that was halfway between a whistle and blowing a raspberry.

Vivian couldn't see the laugh Judy trapped behind her paw, being reminded of a certain little 'elephant' and his tooting suit.

While Rupert continued on with his alluring babbling, Vivian's gaze kept wandering back to Hazel who had started to fidget in her seat, her eyes fixated on her mother. Her ears were plastered to her back and the more time passed the closer the little one seemed to get to break into tears. Knowing that Hazel was a more timid kit, Vivian quickly moved her tail so that it came to rest across both kit's laps.  
A happy squeal sounded from the little buck as soon as the fluffy appendage was close enough to hug. What he immediately did.  
Hazel flinched at first, surprised at the sudden appearance of it. The next moment she had already cuddled into it, snuggling into Vivian's fur.

It didn't take both of them five minutes until they were sound asleep. While cubsitting the four young rabbits, she had soon enough found out that letting them snuggle against her tail worked better than any bedtime story.

"Isn't that uncomfortable," came the low-voiced question from Alicia, having followed the interactions between Vivian and her kits in the rear mirror.  
The vixen's gaze traveled from the kits to the doe, a warm smile spreading across her face while she shook her head. "It's fine. I don't mind it, and they don't tug at my fur in their sleep like my Nicky used to when he was younger."

Her ears twitched once upon hearing an amused chuckle from behind her when Judy caught that last comment, as well as an exasperated huff from her son.  
"Well, I'm so sorry for the things I did in my sleep, mom."  
"Still better than wetti-"  
"Alright, I got it," the tod interrupted, feeling his ears heating up while his mate was convulsed with suppressed laughter, trying her hardest to stay quiet and not wake Rupert and Hazel.

In the meantime, Polly and Yasmine had been looking back and forth between the two foxes, not understanding what they were talking about.  
"What's so funny?" Yasmine piped up, unable to contain her curiosity any longer.  
"Yeah, funny?" her shadow followed suit.  
"Nothing, nothing. We were just thinking about the time when Nick was as young as you two, cuddling with my tail."  
The little does' ears perked up at that.  
"We wanna cuddle, too. Not fair!"  
"Yeah, not fair!"  
Rolling his eyes in faked annoyance, Nick moved his tail as well, mimicking his mom's action by letting it slip into the little ones' laps. Their reactions were immediate and the same as their siblings'.

Alicia's eyes widened a little at seeing this repeated action. "I thought Mellida said that foxes generally disliked it if their tails are being touched?"  
Turning her head to look back over her backrest, Vivian followed the doe's gaze.  
"That goes not for all mammals," she explained. "Family, mates and young kits are normally an exception. Well, not every kit, but it's not uncommon to be a little more lenient towards them."

Judy's ears perked up at that. "I'm pretty sure a certain fox had told me last year that it was not too uncommon for family and _friends_ you are close to and which are precious to you." She shot her mate an inquiring look, who shrugged nonchalantly in response.  
"I had already been in love with you back then, so you have always been more precious to me than a simple friend, Fluff."  
The doe shook her head with an unbelieving smile.  
"What? It's called-"  
"A hustle, Sweetheart. I know." She smirked at him before her expression melted into a warmer smile. "Though I'm not sure it deserves that label, but thank you, you sly fox. That was really sweet of you."  
"It's what I'm here for." A smug look crossed his face before he almost yelped in surprise.

Judy had started to tend to the tip of his tail which was just reaching her lap and gently fiddled with it, giving Nick a hard time repressing pleasant shudders so he wouldn't wake up the already asleep sisters between them.  
The self-satisfied glee with which Judy regarded him was about on par with his earlier expression, causing both of the females in front of them to chuckle.

"Are they always like that?" Alicia turned to Vivian.  
The vixen nodded. "It's almost sickeningly sweet how lovey-dovey they can be at times... but only almost."  
Hearing those stage-whispered words they felt heat creeping into their cheeks along with a rising blush.  
Not that it stopped Judy from caressing her mate's tail, though she eased up a little her administrations.  
Nick started to purr almost inaudibly, closing his eyes while relishing the physical contact with his bunny.  
At the sound, Yasmine and Polly fidgeted slightly in their sleep before sitting still again, the former giving off a little huff with the latter following a second later.

* * *

Their little bubble of contentment kept driving through the dark, snowy night. Only the occasional mumbling from one of the kits and Nick's soft purring broke the silence every now and then. When the night around them started to retreat, banished by a growing dome of light, the tip of the tod's tail began to wag in Judy's lap, drawing a giggle from her.  
"Seems one of the kits can't wait to get back to the warren."

Looking back, Alicia's gaze searched for the one Judy had referred to, only to find her kits still asleep. Though seeing how Nick rolled his eyes at his mate before facing back towards the window was explanation enough.  
Shaking her head, Alicia watched the tod flicking his tail, so it brushed against Judy's chin, causing her to flinch in surprise. As a matter of prudence, he quickly bent his tail backward so that it curled around Polly, effectively moving it out of Judy's direct reach to save him from retaliation.  
Seeing his pouting bunny reflected in the window, he shot her a playful wink before focusing back on their steadily approaching target.

His eyes grew a little wider when the Hopps' homestead slowly came into view, forcing his smugness to change into an expression of honest anticipation.  
Only his ear twitched when Judy gently brushed against his tail once more, and he willingly let it settle into her lap again.  
The doe's own gaze was directed at her family's home as well, drinking in every detail that she could.

She had always loved this holiday.  
The festive atmosphere. The happy laughter and merry songs that seemed to permeate the whole warren. The myriads of lights. The warmth she could feel even in the coldest of winter nights.  
Old, fond memories mingled with fresh, more recent ones.  
The voice of a ghost whispered into her ear.  
 _You have my heart. And if you want to keep it, it's all yours._  
One of her paws reached up to briefly touch the pendant around her neck.  
Her eyes wandered towards the fox.  
 _Her_ fox.  
Her husband.  
Her lifemate.

She had kept it. And she had accepted everything else the tod had to offer and gave everything she had to offer in return.  
There had been not a single day she regretted it.

Bringing his tail up to her lips, she pressed a delicate kiss to it.  
Nick turned around upon the soft sensation and glimpsed the love in Judy's eyes. Whenever it happened, he wondered how he deserved someone as perfect as her in his life, pushing aside his doubts that he didn't.

His eyes remained locked onto hers until the sound of an engine shutting down shook both of them out of their trance. The lights inside the vehicle switched on the moment Alicia opened her door, shortly followed by her husband.

When Vivian and Nick started to unbuckle and gently removed their tails from the little ones' grasps, it was inevitable to wake them up. Small paws rubbed at eyes which squinted in the sudden light, trying to figure out where they were. Once they realized they had arrived, they could barely wait to get out of the car.

Rupert quickly latched onto Vivian's jacket, causing the vixen to chuckle and lift the little buck out of the vehicle.  
Watching this, Hazel started to struggle a bit in her seat, little anxious noises leaving her muzzle until her mother picked her up as well.

Yasmine and Polly had carefully followed Judy and Nick out of the car, Polly quickly rounding it to stand next to her sister. Seeing her brother on Vivian's arm again, Yasmine pulled at Nick's jacket, stretching her paws out towards him once he looked at her.  
With a soft smile and an exaggerated sigh, he lifted the little doe, scooping up her sister as well just when she was about to protest.

Balancing one small bunny on each hip, he turned towards the hill-shaped main entrance of the Hopps' home. When Judy stepped up next to him, his tail wound around her waist in an improvised hug, considering his paws were already full. The doe leaned against his side, following his gaze.

Nick knew that he was looking at merely a small part of the whole building hiding subterranean. But what he saw was just as dazzling as he remembered it to be.  
Though there was something he wanted to see even more than the festively decorated scenery in front of him.

His gaze traveled to the corner of the hill, knowing what was waiting just around it.  
A fact Judy didn't miss. Sensing what was going through her reynard's fuzzy, red head, she turned towards her sister. "Why don't you go ahead. Nick and I will stay here a little longer."

Knowing what Judy had done the year prior - as did half Bunnyburrow probably considering how fast rumors spread here - Alicia gave Judy a knowing look, a grin stretching across her face.  
"Aren't you a little too young to already reminiscent about old times?"  
"Nothing wrong with that, is it?" Judy shot back, shrugging her shoulders embarrassedly.

"Well, come here you two rascals," Frank had approached Nick, attempting to take his daughters from him.  
"But we wanna stay with uncle Nick," Yasmine exclaimed.  
"Yeah, with uncle Nick," Polly clutched at the tod's jacket.

"Now, now, you'll make your daddy sad if you say you don't want to be carried by him. It's like saying you don't like him anymore," Nick gently berated the two little bunnies, giving the older buck a wink out of the corner of his eye. On cue, Frank let his ears droop and attempted a crestfallen look. Not the best, in Nick's opinion, but his daughters swallowed it hook, line, and sinker, immediately reaching out towards their father.  
As soon as he took them, holding one in each arm like Nick did before, they pressed a loud smooch on their daddy's cheeks, Polly as always following her sister's example with a giggle, drawing a laugh from the buck.

Watching those two kits, Nick started to wonder if their current relationship would lead to them being inseparable in the future or one of them getting fed up with it at some point, leading to never ending arguments.

While the rest of their little group headed towards the entrance, Judy grabbed her mate's paw, dragging Nick along with her, a soft, knowing smile on her face.  
"Seems the little ones are quite fond of you and your mom."  
"What can I say," he slung his arm around her, pulling her closer, "we foxes are irresistible."  
Judy gave a tittering laugh. . "I can't argue with that, I guess. This one here might just be a tad," she brought her index finger and thumb close together, "infuriating at times."

Rounding the corner, his eyes grew wide once he stood before them again.  
Last year, Nick had found out about a beautiful Christmas tradition the Hopps family maintained.

An array of large fir trees were put up in a circle, with the tallest one in the center.  
All the smaller trees were connected to their larger brother by a chain of lights spanning from tip to tip. And all of them wore overly pompous garments of tinsel, lights, and baubles.  
Though what made them truly special was the fact that each of the Christmas balls and baubles was unique, made especially for them by a gaffer. Every ball showed an individual member of their family while the other glass-ornaments were shaped to resemble something that was special and dear to someone.

Feeling the warmth from his bunny next to him, he slowly stepped closer to the main tree.  
It took him only a moment to find what he was looking for.

There - just a little above his eye level - hang two baubles, one in the shape of a ZPD badge and the other one looking like a pawsicle.  
Someone had had the presence of mind to put up both of them next to each other. A fact that made him chuckle and caused his tail to gently swish behind him in a slow wag.

It had been Judy who had ordered the latter, hanging it up the year before, during his first visit to the warren. She had explained that it meant he was very dear - very important - to her.  
Looking down at the doe who had snuggled against his side, he was reminded of the moment she had told him that. It was almost like time had reversed.  
But there was a significant difference to the year before.

Leaning down, he put a chaste kiss on her lips, relishing the sound of her humming into it and dragging it out as long as possible before they parted again.  
He saw the blush creeping into Judy's cheeks, almost hidden by her fur. But her eyes never averted from his, reflecting the lights around them while shining in their own warmth.

Their breaths billowed around their muzzles in small clouds in the crisp, cold air.  
The snow had stopped falling before they had reached the farm, leaving behind a crystal clear night sky above them.

Leaning against each other, they remained like that for a while until Judy started to shiver.  
"Want to head inside, Sweetheart?"  
"Might be better, before I freeze solid," she nodded.  
"Hmm, a bunny-flavored pawsicle..." his voice had a musing tone before his long tongue darted out, licking along his lips, "my favorite flavor."  
Judy felt her ears heat up at the innuendo.  
"You are incorrigible," she gave the tod a shove, an embarrassed smile playing on her lips.  
"And you have such a dirty mind, Fluff. I was talking about this." He quickly bent down, giving his bunny's cheek a lick.  
"Not like you had ever complained, otherwise," he added, shooting her a wink.

Shaking her head, she quickly grabbed the front of his jacket to pull him into a deeper, more passionate kiss than before.  
A soft growl rumbled through the fox's chest as he felt his mate briefly nibble at his lower lip before drawing away again.  
"That's all you get for now, buster. And now behave."  
"Yes, ma'am. I'll behave... ' _for now'._ " He gave her cheek another lick before straightening up.

Suddenly, the night felt rather warm to the both of them as they walked back around the building and towards its entrance.

Upon entering they were met with the inquiring gazes of two older bunnies.  
"Mom! Dad!" Judy drew her parents into a double-hug.  
"Hey there, Jude-the-dude," Stu merrily exclaimed once they released each other.

The doe shook her head in mild amusement. "You'll never let go of that nickname, will you?"  
"To me, you'll always be the little, rambunctious tomboy who wants to become the first bunny police officer," he shrugged with a smirk.  
"Just that I _am_ a police officer now," she shot back with a smile. "Also, I think Nick is slowly rubbing off of you."

"As I told you," the one in question piped up, stepping closer to embrace Bonnie and Stu as well, "we foxes are irresistible."  
"Again: incorrigible," she sighed.  
"And that's why you married him," Bonnie added with laughter in her voice.  
"Mom, not you, too," Judy let her head hang in fake despair, causing the four other mammals to break into laughter.

"Well, Nicholas is one charming fella, that's for sure," the older buck stated.  
"Why, thank you, _Stuart._ "  
"Oho, is that how it's going to be, _Piberius?_ "

Nick's ears twitched slightly at the use of his middle name.  
Eyes darting towards his mate, he smirked with a hint of annoyance. "I take it, _Laverne_ was the one telling you about this?"  
"Oh no! No, no, no, no, **no!** You are not going to call me that! Dad, just call him Nick. _Please!_ "  
"Fine, fine. Why don't you and _Nick_ put your jackets away and we go get you something to eat?"  
Judy agreed with a tired smile, briefly rubbing her forehead. "That sounds great. I'm starving."

"Are you alright?"  
Judy let her paw fall at her mother's question. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired. And hungry, so let's hurry."

While heading down the stairs towards the actual warren, Nick's ears started to flick back and forth. About halfway down, he wondered out loud: "Is that music I'm hearing?"  
"Oh, right, last year our PA system had conked out when you were here," Stu mused. "Yes, we keep some Christmas songs running throughout the main parts and living rooms in the afternoon. If it gets too much, you can always retreat to your room or one of the smaller living rooms or the library. And the music stops entirely at eight."

While Stu talked, a soft smile stole across Nick's face.  
 _The outside is a winter wonderland. The inside looks like Santa's workshop,_ his eyes darted around, taking in the decorations and the small hills of fake snow here and there, _and Christmas carols are played. This family is crazy about these holidays... and I love it._

His tail had started to wag as he hummed along to the tune of 'Coming Home for Christmas'.  
Meanwhile, Judy had started to swing their intertwined paws, giggling at her husband's cheerful, kitlike demeanor.

To see how much he enjoyed the season made her happy. But more than that, she felt proud. His cynical shell had slowly started to crumble over the last years, and he had made it clear that she was the reason for this. She had shown him that this world was more than speciesism and greed; that there were still mammals with values and morals. That he could still find meaning in it.

Maybe he hadn't used those exact words, but she still knew.  
She knew from every look, every touch, every word he gave her.

 _Or I'm just ridiculously corny,_ she mentally chided herself.

But feeling his paw gently squeezing hers and glimpsing the warm laughter in his eyes while he gazed into hers right then made it hard not to believe it was true.

Though should he ever tell her that, she would deny it. She felt it was wrong to think it was just her doing when she was aware it actually had been his own strength that helped him to open up to the world once more after everything that had happened in his life. She only had given a little push.

On their way towards the dining hall, they passed by numerous bunnies singing along. Many of them waved at the newcomers, bright smiles causing Nick and Vivian to feel welcome again right from the start.

When they entered the large room, Nick's eyes widened by a fraction and he shook his head in mild disbelief.  
"You really pulled it off, Stu. I didn't think you would get it finished in time."  
With a wide grin, the buck hooked his thumbs under the straps of his overall, satisfied that he had been able to surprise his son-in-law.

"Yep, it wasn't easy, but this year the whole family can eat together."  
He gestured with one paw, including the whole renovated dining hall that was roughly twice the size compared to the year before.

"The _whole_ family?" Judy's voice was neutral, but Nick still sensed the hurt it carried.  
As did her parents.

With a sigh, her mom absentmindedly scratched behind one of her ears.  
"Pop-pop didn't promise anything, but he said he might join us this time. I'm not really sure if he has come around yet, but I'm convinced he will. Give him some time."

Judy hadn't realized it until one of her siblings had mentioned that their grandfather had actively avoided meeting Nick and Vivian whenever they had visited Bunnyburrow.

While she was aware of the old buck's opinion when it came to foxes, Judy had still hoped he would come to understand that her mate wasn't anything like what the prejudices implied.

It seemed she had been wrong, and it hurt to know.

"Luckily, not everyone is as thickheaded as pop-pop, sis."  
The voice jostled Judy out of her thoughts and her raising gaze was met by a pair of dark-blue eyes.

"Jake!" With a happy outcry, she pulled her littermate into her arms, drawing a surprised yelp from the reddish-brown buck before he returned the hug with an amused huff.

"Come 'ere you big lump," he turned to Nick, pulling the tod into an embrace as well.  
"Oof, it's good to see you, too, little boy blue."

Jake groaned over the sound of his guffawing sister.  
"I really ' _owe'_ you for telling him about this, Melly," he grumbled and turned around, glaring at the doe who had been waiting behind him patiently.  
"You are welcome," she grinned at her brother while glomping the fox next.

"Sheesh, what is it with you bunnies and your need for physical contact?" Nick remarked.  
With a gasp Mellida let go of him immediately. "Ah, I'm so sorry, Nick. I always forget to take into account that you might dislike stuff like that."

The doe's ears were drooping only to perk up the next moment when her headfur was ruffled by the tod.  
"Seriously, Dips. You should know by now that I love yanking your chain."

Turning halfway around she looked at Judy in annoyance. "Why again did you marry that guy?"  
"Because nobody else wanted him?" she shrugged, a wide grin plastered over her face.  
"Ouch, Fluff. You know you love me."  
"Haven't heard that one in a while," she chortled in reply.  
"Maybe because you keep telling me every day," he pulled her into a sidelong hug, affectionately rubbing a thumb over her cheek which drew a happy chirr from the doe.

"And here they go again," Vivian quickly interrupted the couple's banter.  
Judy smoothed back her reddening ears with a bashful smile while her husband blithely shot her a wink.

"So what is the story behind that nickname?"  
The vixen's question roused a groan from Jake who had believed the attention had shifted away from him.

A false hope, it seemed.

"Ah, yeah," Nick smirked at the pouting buck. "I really have to commend you for coming up with that one, Dips. You see, mom, when this guy here was a teenager he tried to cop out on helping paint a barn. So he hid in a hay bale. Bad luck for him - or karma, if you will - they had temporarily stored the paint cans in the exact barn his little hiding place was in. One of his older siblings was fetching some of those unfortunately not well-sealed cans, stumbled and dropped a couple of them over the hay bale. The paint soaked through until he was as blue as his eyes."

His smirk had grown equally to the buck's deepening frown.  
"Alright, laugh it off, will you? I swear, how Judy can possibly refrain from sometimes kicking your butt from Zootopia to here and back is beyond me."  
The tod chuckled, giving Jake a half-lidded grin. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know more about my butt?"

The buck's eyes grew wide at those words. "How d-"  
With an audible 'clack' his mouth fell shut, trapping the words inside. But the same moment he knew that it was already too late. Deflating, he averted his eyes from the mammals in front of him, his ears dropping behind his back in uncertainty.

Nick's expression had turned serious as the fox understood his mistake.

"Alright, what have I just missed."  
The question caused everyone to turn towards Mellida who looked at them flabbergasted.

Nick couldn't help rolling his eyes, unwittingly mirroring his mate's action.

A fragile smile appeared on Jake's face.  
"How about we go somewhere more comfortable," he suggested quietly, earning some nods and an even more quizzical look from his clueless sister.

* * *

A lively fire was crackling in the fireplace of one of the smaller above-ground living rooms which were strewn all over the warren. The little group had retreated there in order to give Jake some space and a feeling of privacy, sensing that the buck felt the need to not announce what he planned to in front of a larger audience than necessary.

He looked deep in thought, nervously kneading a spot between the index finger and thumb of his left paw.

Meanwhile, Nick wore an unusually sober expression that furrowed his brows slightly.

Vivian had taken a seat close to the fire, enjoying the warmth seeping into her fur.  
Her eyes slowly moved from each of the present mammals to the next. She knew what was bothering her son. And it was easy to guess what was going through the head of the younger buck.

Stu's mouth had occasionally opened and closed again after a moment of no word leaving it.  
She guessed there were things he wanted to tell his son, but either he didn't know where to begin or changed his mind, waiting for Jake to start talking whenever he felt ready.  
Though she assumed that wouldn't be the case until Judy and Bonnie showed up.

After the former's stomach had started to growl - much to the grey doe's chagrin - Bonnie had put her foot down stating that she would quickly get her as well as Nick and Vivian something to eat and fetch some beverages for all of them, asking Judy to lend her a paw.  
Both Nick and Judy had tried to protest, but the matriarch had been resolute, making it clear that she wouldn't let their guests go hungry for longer than needed.

As for Mellida... the young, white bunny's gaze was going back and forth between her brother and brother-in-law, still trying to figure out what had transpired in the dining hall minutes ago.

Vivian's first impression of the young female had been one of a sharp bunny. Though now she was wondering if she hadn't had to revise that. Or maybe the doe was just too close to her brother, missing the obvious.  
As the saying goes: to miss the forest for the trees.  
The vixen gave a mental shrug. Mellida would find out soon enough and Jake would see that he had been setting his own teeth on edge over nothing.

Just when Stu opened his muzzle once again, Bonnie and Judy reappeared. The older of the two grey lagomorphs held a tablet with multiple steaming cups on it while the younger carried three plates and sets of flatware.  
After she had handed one out to Vivian, moving another in front of Nick's face drew his unfocused gaze back to the present.

He took the offered food - a savory-smelling vegetable lasagna - with a soft-spoken thanks.  
The expression he glimpsed on his mate's face gave him pause.  
Her ears were folded back behind her head in a relaxed manner. Her features were soft and there was a coy little smile playing around her lips. And for some reason she had trouble holding his gaze, her eyes darting away for just a split-second before focusing back on him.

His instincts told him something had happened, though considering that his bunny didn't look distressed he decided to leave her be for now and concentrate on the matter at paw.

Before he was able to gather his thoughts, another grey-furred paw appeared before him, this one holding one of the steaming cups.  
"It's hot cider. I hope you enjoy it, we made this ourselves."

He took a nip from the hot liquid, relishing the fruity flavor that ran down his throat.  
"It's delicious, Bonnie."  
The doe nodded with a smile and continued to hand out the beverages.

Nick watched as Jake was drawn out of his musings.  
He had been chewing on his lower lip until his mother addressed him.  
With a soft hum, he accepted one of the cups as well, finally easing up after sipping from it.

When Bonnie sat down, silence filled the room once more, interrupted only by the still cackling flames.

Some minutes passed that way until Nick set his cup down on the coffee table in front of him.  
"I'm sorry, Jake."

The buck looked up from his own cider, meeting the fox's gaze.  
As he shook his head the corners of his lips curled slightly upward. "Don't be."  
Nick tried to object, but the rabbit continued without giving him the chance to.  
"I mean, I'm kinda upset that you did that. But thinking about it, I guess that just means it was so obvious that you and everybody else knew anyway, huh? I don't take you for the kind of guy who would hawk other mammals' secrets around."

The tod's weak, lopsided grin was a mirror of Jake's as he nodded.  
"Still, I should have paid closer attention. Even when everybody else knew I should have realized that you tried not to act the part. It should have been you who decided when and whom to tell about it."  
"Nah," Jake shrugged it off, "I'm actually glad that happened. I was trying to work up the nerve to come clean for a while now but always chickened out in the end. It feels... nice to finally admit it."

"Alright! Would you _kindly_ stop speaking in riddles and tell me what in the name of roasted radish is going on here?"

All heads turned towards Mellida who looked frazzled from trying to follow the conversation. Her ears stood out in different directions as if they weren't sure what the proper position to adopt was.

Nick took up his cup once more, mumbling that it wasn't his place to explain this time before he took a gulp and turned towards his food, now that he didn't feel as guilty anymore.

Jake chuckled at his sister's expression before a sigh left his lips.  
He kneaded his paws nervously, though hesitated only a moment before starting to talk.  
"I'm gay, Melli. And I'm also an inter... or, well, more precisely, I-I'm interested in predators."  
His gaze briefly flickered towards Nick before returning to the white-furred bunny.

"Irresistible," Nick mumbled with a smirk.  
"Incorrigible," his mate muttered under her breath.

Jake's nose started to twitch slowly now that he had said it out loud for the first time and he grabbed his forearm with the opposite paw.  
The next moment he felt someone softly rubbing a spot between his ears, causing his tightly wound shoulders to relax.  
With a turn of his head, he was met by the soft expression on his mom's face.

Deflating a little, he chuckled and shook his head.  
"You really already knew, huh?"  
Bonnie continued her gentle caressing as she looked at her insecure kit. "For a long time, we wondered if you were interested in anyone, to be honest. You never seemed to care about other bunnies, so we thought that maybe you were just, well, asexual. I feel a little bit ashamed that the thought of you being an inter never crossed my mind."

Leaning back in his seat, Jake scratched at his cheek.  
"Same here."

His statement caused some surprised stares.  
"What? Before Judy came here with Nick, I never considered being with someone from a different species. I'm sure I'm not the only one who found a new perspective or at least a bit of needed courage last year. Heck, look at how many of us have started dating outside of our species. Sure, some might only try it out since it's 'new and exciting,' but there are also some who I could easily see getting married soon."  
The buck took a deep breath, realizing he was rambling.  
"Well, I'm one of those who finally understood," he concluded with a weak grin.

"So, that's all?" The somewhat disappointed question drew all eyes back to Mellida.  
"I mean," she jerked a little at the sudden attention, "it was obvious, wasn't it? And here I thought it was something big that I missed."

Vivian chuckled silently.  
 _I still can't tell if that bunny is sharp or not._

"What I'd like to know is," Bonnie took a small sip from her cider, "if there already is someone."  
Her voice raised subtly at the end of her sentence, turning it into a question while she directed a curious gaze at her son.  
Since Jake had turned to his own beverage in the meantime, he almost choked on it.

Coughing he felt his cheeks heat up.  
"W-well, no, I'm not, you know... _seeing_ anyone."  
"Buuut?" Judy pressed on with a grin.  
A bashful smile appeared on the buck's face as he turned his cup in his paws.  
"There is that black-footed ferret working at Murray's Garage. His name's Steve Polcatton. He moved to Bunnyburrow about four months ago and I met him when I was bringing one of our cars over there for a checkup. We got to talk while he worked on it and he is just so bubbly and c-cute." Jake blushed a little at his last words and took another nip from his cup.

"He asked if I didn't want to go drink a beer with him sometimes. So we did and, I don't know, it just clicked for me, I guess."  
"Not for the both of you?" Mellida leaned forward on the table. "I mean, it sounds like you two hit it off quite well."

Jake simply shook his head. "He told me how glad he was to have met someone so quickly who didn't seem to mind that he was a predator. Probably we just became fast friends in his eyes and nothing more."

"Did someone give him a hard time since he arrived here?"  
It was the first time Stu had spoken up for a while, concern coloring his voice.  
"I don't think so. But you know how Murray is. It's hard to tell if that old grump likes anyone. And it takes folks around here a little to get used to someone new, so that might have been part of it, too."

Finished with his lasagna, Nick placed the plate in front of him, letting his long tongue trace his chops, removing the remaining crumbs sticking to his muzzle.  
"That doesn't set anything in stone. He is not aware of your feelings and hasn't turned you down." The reynard's eyes flickered towards his wife.

Jake remembered how one year ago Nick had confessed his feelings towards Judy, not only in front of the whole Hopps family but also without knowing what her answer would be.  
The message was clear to him.

With a sigh, the buck made his decision. "Would it be alright if I invite Steve over tomorrow to celebrate with us?"  
"Sure," Bonnie answered with an uncertain smile, "if you think he hasn't made plans with his family already."

"I don't think so."  
The older doe faced her husband upon his unexpected statement.  
"The boy has no family. At least not here. He came to Bunnyburrow alone to start a new life."  
"How do you know about this, dad?"  
The puzzled look on his son's face wrestled a sad smile from Stu.  
"Murray might be an old grump, but he _does_ care."

Hearing those words Judy was reminded of a certain bovine someone whom that description fit as well, and judging from her fox's soft smirk he had the same thought.

"I'm looking forward to meeting him," Bonnie clapped her paws together once, smiling at her son.  
He returned it, sighing the next moment. "Really, I have worried so much for nothing."  
"Tell me about it," Nick laughed, earning him an amused snort by the buck.

He felt a soft sensation against his side, and looking down found his mate leaning against him, eyes almost completely closed.  
The next moment Judy jerked awake again.  
"Still tired, Carrots?"  
The doe nodded, her muzzle opening into a massive yawn.

When she looked at Nick, she found him gazing at her bemusedly.  
She rolled her eyes. "Just say it."  
"You are incredibly cute when you do this." His words were accompanied by a wide grin.  
Placing a short kiss on his lips, she hummed approvingly. "Be grateful that I know you mean it."  
"I'm always."

He checked the time.  
The evening had advanced while they had been talking so he suggested that they should go to bed.  
"Sounds fine," the doe agreed. "I'm sorry that we head off so soon after arriving."  
Her parents shook their heads in unison. "Don't be. Make sure to get some rest so you are fit for tomorrow. Oh, before I forget it..."  
Bonnie shot her husband a quick glance prompting him to continue.  
"We have prepared guest room eleven for you. Or to be more precise, it's not a guest room anymore."

Judy looked at her dad quizzically.  
"What your father is trying to say is, we have decided it would be nice if you two had your own room here whenever you visit us since you don't live in the Burrows. So that room is now furnished for two mammals. Of course, if you want to change something, go ahead. It's yours now."

The young doe shot her parents a grateful smile. "Thank you, guys."  
"Thank you, Bonnie. Stu." Nick added.  
"It's nothing, really. We can't expect a married couple to always sleep in separate beds when staying here," Stu shrugged it off.

Judy felt a blush creep into her ears and let them quickly drop behind her.  
With a bashful smile, she grabbed her mate's paw.  
Wishing everyone a good night, the two young mammals headed towards the stairs, Nick carrying their luggage which he had dragged along since their arrival.

Reaching the floor below, Judy suddenly started to giggle. At her fox's inquiring look, she pointed over her shoulder back to where they came from, whispering just loud enough that he could hear her. "My mom is just trying to convince Jake to call his crush right now before he 'forgets' it. And it seems your mom is backing her up quite enthusiastically."  
"So, my plan had worked perfectly."  
"Plan?"  
Nick gave her one of his best, lopsided grins. "Why, my plan to show Jake that he had nothing to worry about and that he would be supported by everyone, of course."

The doe's half-lidded expression showed how much she believed in his words.  
"Yeah, you messed up and luckily my family is open-minded enough to take something like this without any problems," she deadpanned.  
"I wouldn't be blessed with such an incredible mate and have their support as well, otherwise," he admitted, his smirk easing into a more genuine smile.  
"There is that silver tongue again," Judy chuckled, but still rewarded him with another kiss.

It was just a short trip towards their new, own room.  
Nick had found out that the guest rooms were located relatively close to the entrance of the warren in one of the peripheral hallways. Though during his first visit they had headed directly for the dining hall, which had a somewhat central location. From there to the showers, to Judy's room and finally to his guest room had made for a round trip causing him to slightly lose his sense of direction. But he had internalized the layout for the top floors and was finding his way around rather easily by now.

That still didn't stop him from reaching for his bunny's paw, earning him a gentle smile.

Opening the door to their personal, private area revealed a small but comfy room.  
The furniture was a little spartan.  
Along one wall there stood a drawer with a mirror hanging above it, while a set of two chairs and a side table occupied a corner. Additionally there were two nightstands, one on either side of the double bed that was slightly bigger than their own at home.

Not that they needed a large one.  
Snuggling against each other as they did every night led to an abundance of excess space.

Everything showed the same Christmasy flair the whole warren radiated.  
The duvet covers were held in green and red, the pillows sported a design of snowflakes, and the drawer and side table were draped with white tablecloths embroidered with simple shapes of Christmas trees. The finishing touch was an advent wreath hanging on the wall above the bed as well as a couple of fake fir twigs bound to the bedposts with red and golden silk ribbons.

Since it was a former guest room, one of the amenities was an integrated bathroom, sparing them the tour through the warren to take a shower.

As soon as they had entered their room, Judy closed the door behind them.  
Nick's ears perked up at the sound of the lock snapping into place, and he turned to his mate with a curious expression. She leaned with her back against the wood for a moment before pushing herself off, slowly moving towards the bed.

While passing it by she took off her sweater, shirt, and pants deliberately slow, observing her husband swallow at the sight out of the corner of her eye.

Dressed only in her panties she continued towards the bathroom and stopped right under the threshold.

Looking back over her shoulder, she shot her mate a suggestive look.  
"I don't know about you, Slick, but I'm going to take a nice, _hot_ shower now."  
The tod tried hard not to pant when he thought about what his lovely wife might have planned. "Are you sure about this, Fluff? I mean, we are not alone here, surrounded by your family and their superpowered ears."  
Chuckling at his usual foolery she shook her head.  
"Every bedroom is soundproof. A big family tends to be noisy, even when everyone is just sleeping. And considering that rarely _everyone_ is just sleeping but someone always sneaks someone in... let's say, it's definitely safe to _take a shower_ here. Though, if you rather want to go to sleep right away..." With a shrug, she vanished inside the room, her undergarments sailing back into the main room just a moment later.

Before the piece of fabric even hit the floor, a red-furred blur had whooshed past, following the grey bunny who's surprised eek could be heard the next instant, followed by a warm, tinkling laugh.

* * *

The next morning came silently.

It snuck into the day like a thief, giving no sign of its arrival or presence.

When Nick cracked open an eye, there was darkness all around him.  
Not absolute blackness, though. On the nightstand next to Judy's side of the bed stood a digital clock, its red numbers lightening the room marginally. And his own night vision helped distinguish his surroundings.

Moving his head a little, he barely saw the rim of a grey-furred head at the lower edge of his vision. Not that it was possible for him to discern colors at the moment, but he didn't need to. Judy was the only mammal who could be there, lying snug against his front, bare fur against bare fur as their body warmth mingled.

His arms were wrapped around the doe, and gently he moved one of his paws down her back. Under her soft, velvety fur he felt trained and toned muscles.  
Such strength mixed with a certain delicacy, both in body and soul. A thought that, if not every day, still often crossed his mind while waking up next to the mammal he loved.

A petite nose nuzzled into his chest fur.  
"Ah, sorry, did I wake you up?" His whispered question barely broke the silence in their room.  
"Mm-mm," the doe hummed in negation, though Nick was sure her being asleep hadn't been an act.

Smiling softly, he continued to caress her back, one of his paws reaching up a little further to do the same with her neck while one clawed thumb scratched at the back of her head. In return, she started to tooth purr at her mate's tender loving care.  
The sound caused the tip of his tail - which was loosely draped over her legs - to wag, brushing against her own, cottony tuft of fur. With a giggle at the sudden sensation, she pulled herself tighter against the fox.

The action showed no signs of lust, just the need to feel closer.  
A notion which Nick returned.

He affectionately nuzzled Judy between her ears, inhaling the scent of his beloved bunny deeply.  
"Have I told you that I love the perfume you wear?" he asked, nuzzling her again.  
He could hear the smile in her answer. "Not yet, no."  
"Well, I do. I never knew you even use something like this."  
"I wanted to try something new," she rubbed her forehead lovingly against his chest. "And I'm glad. I hoped that you would like it. So, this one is a keeper?"  
He quickly placed a lick and kiss to the base of one of her ears. "Mhh, most definitely. And the perfume as well."

He heard and felt the amused snort that escaped Judy at his corny statement before she drew away a little from him to be able to sneak a kiss from his lips.

They remained in their shared embrace for a little longer, almost feeling ready to drift back to slumber. Before that could happen, Judy cast a glance at the clock behind her.  
Surprised she realized that it was after nine in the morning.  
"We have slept for almost twelve hours."

Nick's eyes opened again at her statement, realizing he wouldn't get the chance to fall asleep again. Propping himself up on one arm, he looked over his mate to see for himself.  
"Seems we needed that, then. Not that I'm surprised. We had a rough couple of weeks. And yesterday was quite draining as well."

Judy didn't need to see his smirk for she could detect it in his voice well enough.  
A blush heated up her ears as she gave the reynard a playful slap to his chest.  
"We should get up, or there will be no breakfast left for us."

She swung her legs over the bed's edge when she heard rustling and the soft whisper of the sheets and mattress as Nick moved. A soft sensation on her shoulder elicited a happy chitter from her as he pressed his lips against it. She answered by placing a paw on his snout, scratching the ridge of it while kissing the side of his muzzle.

"Get up now," she commanded, finally rising and heading for her still unpacked luggage to find some clothes.  
Her fox followed suit with a chipper "Yes, ma'am."

Dressed and freshly brushed, they were about to leave their room, but Nick held her back just beneath the door.  
When Judy opened her mouth to protest, his upward-pointing claw interrupted her.  
Following it with her eyes, she saw something they had seemingly missed the night before. Above their heads hang a mistletoe just inside the room.

Eyes falling back down, she caught Nick's approaching muzzle with both paws, much to his surprise. His wide-eyed expression drew a laugh from her before she released him only to place a deeper, more passionate kiss on his lips, creating a strong, rumbling purr in his chest.

Since they stood halfway out in the hallway, multiple bunnies passed them by, whistling at the couple.  
"So active already in the morning?" one of Judy's sisters - a brown and black doe with golden eyes - teased.

Judy's ears dropped bashfully behind her while Nick grew a self-satisfied smirk that was close to reaching the red end of the scale.  
She could feel his paw, that had somehow found its way to the small of her back without her noticing, drawing her closer.

A loud grumble erupted from the doe's midsection as if snarling at the offending sibling.  
"I slowly get the impression that your stomach has a mind of its own, Carrots."  
"Not yet. But if I don't get something to eat soon, I might start gnawing on _you_."  
"Again."

An elbow found its way into the tod's site, making him exhale in a sudden 'oof'.  
"Alright, alright, I'll behave. Geez, talk about domestic violence," he over-dramatically rubbed the spot his wife had hit.  
Judy who was already heading towards the dining hall shot back over her shoulder with a smirk. "At least you know who wears the pants in this relationship."  
"Yesterday, none of us d-" the doe threateningly raised her arm again, her mate foolishly having closed the distance between them.  
"Nevermind."

With a satisfied nod, she grabbed his paw and pulled him along.  
Nick chuckled at his bunny's eagerness.

* * *

Vivian chuckled at the little bunny's eagerness.

She had joined Alicia and her family for breakfast and sat after his passionately voiced demand right next to Rupert.  
The young buck's attention had wandered from his pancakes to the vixen and back to his food. Unfortunately, it had ended with him leaving traces of syrup all over his small face.

After they had finished, Vivan attempted to clean him off with a handkerchief only for Rupert to state he was able to do it alone. She now watched him swiping away at his face, managing only to spread the sticky, viscous liquid even more across his fur and causing it to stick out in spikes in some spots.

With a sigh, Alicia stood up. "I'll go get some water to clean up this little punk."  
"Why not just groom him? Oh, do rabbits even groom their kits or each other?" Vivian wracked her brain trying to remember if her son, his mate or any other of the bunnies she knew had mentioned something about this.

The dark-brown doe had stopped in her tracks upon the question.  
"Well, we do. Sometimes. But considering our small tongues, something like the mess Rupert has created here would probably take close to an hour, not taking into account that he would probably struggle against it all the time." She considered it for a moment before shaking her head.

"I guess it's my turn then," the vixen smirked before drawing her long tongue over the top of the kit's head. The action drew a surprised laugh from him before he attempted to pull away as Vivian repeated it.

Smirking, Alicia sat down once more. "You will just have to bear with it, Sweety."  
She watched as her son kept struggling while Vivian drew him closer, starting to work on all the clotty lumps of fur that he had managed to create.  
He kept up his resistance for some minutes before finally accepting that he wouldn't get away that easily. Just like when his mommy wanted him to take a bath and he wouldn't get out before he was squeaky clean.  
So he settled for pouting.

Crossing his arms, his ears laid back in defiance, while he stoically waited for Vivian to finish. Though she made it rather difficult for him to keep this act up, her tongue often enough stroking over rather ticklish spots, eliciting a giggle or a laugh every now and then before he returned to his former sulking.

"Uncle Nick!"

The vixen was just about finished when an outcry - followed by another one just a second later, making it all too clear which two little does had caught sight of her son - drew her attention to the newcomers entering the dining hall.

Spotting his mom and her entourage, Nick and Judy sauntered over to their table.  
"Well, if it isn't two of my favorite little bunnies. Lightning and Thunder."  
He briefly ruffled their headfur while greeting the rest of the present mammals.

"But those are not our names," Yasmine protested with a giggle.  
"Yeah, not our names," her sister parroted.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his mate shaking her head.  
"Oh, but I think they suit you quite well. You," he softly booped the black-furred kit's nose, drawing another chuckle from her while she cross-eyed tried to bring his digit into focus," always speak first. You are the lightning."  
He turned towards the sand-colored bunny-girl.  
"And you..."  
 _Boop_  
"well, what follows after every lightning?"

The two sisters looked at each other, their little faces scrunched up contemplatively.  
Polly's ears shot up as a broad smile spread over her features.  
"Thunder!" she loudly exclaimed.  
"Yeah, thunder!" Yasmine's ears followed her sister's example.

The sudden reversal of roles left the tod slack-jawed for a split-second before he laughed out loud.  
 _Did those little pipsqueaks just do that on purpose?_ he wondered, shaking his head while the remnants of a smile still adorned his face.

"I see you get it. Cool, isn't it?" He leaned back in his seat, waiting for their answers with a half-lidded grin.

Both nodded in unison.  
"Yeah, cool," the usual one started.  
"Mhm, cool."  
 _Phew, normality restored._

Being focused on the sisters, Nick entirely missed the warm smiles that had spread across the faces of the mammals around him as well as the grins and smirks directed at his mate.  
The latter wore an expression that made it evident how affected she was from witnessing her husband interacting with her little nieces in such a heartwarming way.

She was pulled out of her little dreamworld when a stack of pancakes appeared in front of her. Attached to the plate was a grey paw, belonging to her mother who gave her a knowing smile that made the younger doe's ears burn.  
"Thanks, mom. I'm starving."

The words drew Nick's attention back from observing the two young girls chuckling and laughing while addressing each other with their new names.  
Bonnie stood next to them, placing her second plate in front of him and presenting him with another stack of pancakes, these ones topped with a tremendous load of blueberries that made his maw water just from the sight.

"Bonnie, you are a lifesaver." He watched his mate dig in with gusto before he even had a chance to grab his own fork and knife.  
"Though more her life than mine, I guess," he added with a smirk, earning him the brief sight of the doe's small pink tongue poking out at him before she continued annihilating her meal.

"Nothing is better than a good breakfast against _exhaustion._ "  
Nick didn't miss the inflection in Bonnie's words. His ears started to heat up.

 _Didn't Carrots say that the rooms here are soundproof!?_  
A glance at her showed a wide-eyed doe, almost choking on her food while her laid-back ears were turning as red as his fur.  
"Mom!" Judy's voice was a little rough after barely being able to swallow the bite she had forced down.  
"What? I didn't say anything, did I?" Judging from the teasing in the older bunny's voice it was clear that she knew. It didn't matter how, or if it was just a fluke they had confirmed with their reactions. The poorly suppressed laughter from the other's didn't help them regain their composure in any way.

Only the four small kits wore similar expressions of confusion, wondering about the adults acting strange again. But since they always did that, they simply shrugged it off. Grown-ups were weird, after all.

Bonnie sat down next to Vivian and a still pouting Rupert, taking in the little one's headfur that was - now clean - partly sticking out in different directions. Giving the self-satisfied smirking vixen an inquiring look, Vivian provided a quick summary, earning her a chuckle from the Hopps matriarch as well as an annoyed huff from the small buck.

"So, what are your plans for today?" the older doe asked, her eyes skimming over the present mammals.  
"Actually," Alicia spoke up," the McFleeces have invited us. You know how Maggie and I used to have this little book-club of ours before I moved to Zootopia? And Frank and Harry endlessly discussed their baseball stuff when they had the chance to. We wondered if you could maybe look after the kits while we go there and catch up a little on old times?"  
"Hmm, I'll have to prepare dinner for later. You know that this is a Sisyphean challenge even with so many paws helping me. But I'm sure one of your siblings would love to look after them."

A short cough drew their attention to Vivian who gave Alicia an inquiring look.  
"Or I could just ask their favorite vixen if she would look after them?"  
"I think I'll be able to somehow squeeze them in despite my cramped schedule."  
Vivian regarded the little ones with a smile, a happy wagging tail being proof she was looking forward to spending time with them.

Rupert, who had entirely forgotten about being in the sulks, was beaming at her as were Yasmine and Polly. Only Hazel looked like she wasn't sure how to feel about her parents going somewhere without her.

"Can we go play in the snow, Vivan?" the young buck asked with a shine in his eyes.  
"Yeah, we wanna play in the snow. Please?" Yasmine pleaded.  
"Please?" Polly made big, round eyes at her.  
Even Hazel's ears perked up at the outlook of playing in the white surrounding the warren.

"Alright, alright, turn off the adorableness." Laughter colored the vixen's words. "I think as long as your parents aren't against it, we can go out and play."  
All four little heads simultaneously turned towards the older bunnies.  
"Sure. We'll show you where their jackets, gloves and so on are, and you can get started." Alicia stood up to do just that, handing Hazel over to her husband.  
"Though, I would advise you to find someone to help you look after them. The four of them out in the snow might be a bit much to handle for just one mammal alone," Frank added, briefly ruffling his daughter's headfur gently.

"We can do that." Judy licked the remaining syrup from her plate, a satisfied expression on her face while she offered their help. Nick gave an approving hum while he chewed on his last morsel of pancake.  
The kits squealed happily, seeing as their aunt and uncle would also play with them.  
Nick didn't even have a chance to tell the little rascals to get going when two small paws grasped his, and Yasmine and Polly dragged him along after their mother. Rupert had, as always, latched onto Vivian while Frank let Hazel down so she could take Judy's paw, following the others.

"Have fun," Bonnie called after them, getting barely a wave from her daughter before they all vanished through the door and out of the dining hall.  
"They'll both make great parents one day," Frank mused, getting up himself to help his mother-in-law carry all the plates back to the kitchen.  
"Too bad they won't be able to have kits of themselves. Have they thought about adoption yet?"

Placing the dishes in the dishwasher, he didn't realize the delay before the doe answered.  
"No, that topic never came up." She turned to face him, a warm smile on her face. "Now, hadn't you and Alicia plans? Get going and thanks for your help."  
"You're welcome, Bonnie."

* * *

While Nick put a scarf on Polly, Vivian tried to suppress her laughter, watching as Rupert attempted to force the left glove on his right paw, unwilling to let someone help him.  
Yasmine who had realized what her brother was doing wrong couldn't keep herself from giggling, though.

Surprisingly it was Hazel - who had stood next to Judy the whole time, still holding her paw - who walked over to Rupert, took the glove from him and handed him the other one instead.  
The buck looked at it for a moment before it dawned on him what his mistake had been. With a mumbled 'thanks' that charmed the softest smile from his shy sister, he put on his gloves just as his Frank entered the foyer.

"Seems you guys are ready," he exclaimed with a smile.  
A collective, happy shout of confirmation was the answer he got.  
With a chuckle, his wife walked over to him to hand him his jacket.  
"You are the only one who isn't ready to go, Honey."  
Putting it on he turned towards his kits.  
"We won't stay away for too long. Maybe two or three hours."  
They nodded in unison, three of them visibly eager to get out and into the snow.  
"You lot behave while we are away, you hear?" Alicia added, doorhandle already in paw.  
"Yes, mom," again almost in unison if not for Hazel's slightly delayed, almost inaudible "Yes, mommy."

After Frank and Alicia had left, Vivian drew the kits' attention to herself.  
"Okay, before we go outside you have to promise me some things. First, you stay close to the warren. No running to the woods or into the fields. Second, you stay in sight of at least one of us. Third, if you have to go to the toilet or want to go back inside, you don't just sneak away but tell us. Can you promise me that?"  
"Yes, Vivan," came Rupert's quick like a shot reply, followed shortly by Yasmine and Polly. Only Hazel was nodding silently, pressing her stuffed bunny to her chest with one paw while the other grasped Judy's paw.

Somehow seeing the stuffed toy reminded Nick of Rupert and he needed a moment to remember why.  
"Isn't that the stuffed bunny Rupert was dragging around last year?" he asked his mate in a hushed voice while his mom was still speaking.  
Leaning over to him Judy answered with a grin. "You mean the one he whacked you in the nose with? Yes, that was his. But when your mom started cubsitting them, Rupert got fractious whenever she left. So I decided it was time to part ways with my old fox plushie and I gave it to him. And Hazel all too willingly adopted his bunny."

"As sweet as that is, I can't believe you just gave away plushie-Nick." He shot his wife a smirk seeing how her ears turned a light shade of pink.  
"What makes you believe that it was a plushie-you?"  
"Well," he held up one paw, starting to count his reasons on his claws, "because of four little whoopsies you might have overlooked. First of all, when we moved in together you had tried to keep it a secret from me. There would be no reason for hiding that one but not your other bunny plushies unless it was embarrassing for you if I would see that specific one."  
"Circumstantial evidence."  
"Also," his second claw went up, his smirk widening while he kept on talking, "I saw the tag on which it was written that this specific little guy was made the same year you started working as a police officer. The same year we met for the first time."  
"Still not very convincing, Officer Wilde."  
"I'm not done yet, Officer Wilde-Hopps." He shot her a wink before raising his third claw.  
"Whoopsy number three, he wore a green shirt-"  
"Plain green without a pattern," she interjected, slowly realizing where he was probably going with his last reason.  
"-which leads to whoopsy number foursy," he kept rattling on without letting the doe interrupt him, "a crumbled up ZPD badge sticker was stuck to his chest. The same one I threw away after the press conference."

Ears beet red, Judy ran out of arguments against her husband's reasoning.  
"Alright. You got me, okay? I found that little guy after the whole mess with the press conference. I just... I lost a very dear and important friend, and it reminded me of you. I thought I would never see you again."

Nick put a paw on the crestfallen looking doe's shoulder, taking her into a gentle embrace the next moment. Pulled from her memories, she reciprocated his gesture with a low, pleased chirr.  
"So, why giving that memory away if it meant so much to you?"  
Tightening their hug, Judy briefly nuzzled against the reynard's chest.  
"Because the real Nick came back to me. Because I fell in love with him. Because he told me he loves me. And because I became lifemates with him. There is no need for a stand-in anymore since I can cuddle up to the real one whenever I want now."

"You see, Rupert," Vivian's voice jerked them from their conversation as both mammals noted with dread that four young bunnies and one adult vixen watched them intensely, "that plushy your aunt Judy gave you is really precious to her. You should always treat it well."  
"I promise," the buck smiled widely at his still blushing aunt.  
"Can we go play now?" Yasmine impatiently tugged at Nick's pants.  
"Can we?" Polly tugged on his other side as well.

Smoothing back his ears in a faint show of embarrassment he let loose a low chuckle before taking both girls by their paws. "Alright, let's go then."  
Hazel, who had latched onto her aunt's jacket while she had hugged her uncle Nick, reached for Judy's paw once more.  
"You really want to take your bunny with you outside? It might get wet from the snow."  
The meek doe simply pressed her plushy more tightly to her chest.  
"I see. We just have to be careful then, right?"  
 _Nod, nod_

While they weren't greeted by a clear blue sky once they stepped through the door, only splotches of white clouds awaited them, bigger brothers of the ones their billowing breaths created in the cold, fresh air.

They walked around the small hill that made up the foyer until they reached a roofed porch on the side with two benches standing there, more or less sheltered from the snow that fell thinly in little flakes.

"Why don't we put Mr. bunny here so he can watch us and you can keep an eye on him? Would that be okay for you, Hazel?" Judy had squatted down to be at eye level with her niece, pointing over to the porch and its benches.  
Contemplating her words for a moment Hazel nodded, and they walked over, placing the stuffed toy on one of the benches after checking that it wasn't wet from the snow.  
"Stay here," the young doe ordered in a soft voice before walking back with Judy into the crunchy snow.

Her siblings in the meantime had started a snowball fight against Vivian and Nick, the latter just ducking out of the way, so that the cold projectile missed his head by a hair's breadth.  
Sailing over him it hit Judy square in the cheek, part of it breaking off and slipping under her jacket's collar, causing her to squeal in double surprise.  
With a grin she quickly scooped up a pawfull of snow herself, pressing it into form before storming towards the other mammals with laughter.

While his mate whizzed past him, Nick watched Hazel standing apart from them, her little face almost hidden between her scarf and wool cap.

She looked a little forlorn.

Approaching her, Nick saw her eyes widening by a fraction before he was getting down on his haunches. "You don't want to throw snowballs, eh little Carrots?" he asked her in a soft voice, earning him a shy nod.  
"Something else you want to do then?"  
Another nod.  
"And are you telling me what it is?" a smile played around his lips.  
He knew he should probably not let her see his fangs. Hazel was already a rather timid kit, so adding in some sharp teeth on top of this fox she barely knew might be a bad idea.  
"I wanna build a snowmammal."  
"A snowmammal? That sounds like a great idea," he exclaimed softly.  
A faint smile appeared on her face.  
"Would it be okay if I help you a little?"  
Her smile spread further while Hazel nodded, causing his tail to start wagging at the fact that the shy little kit was warming up to him.

Giggling, Hazel pointed past him at the appendage. "Why does it do that, uncle Nick?"  
Her voice was still very soft, almost too much so to hear.  
"It does that when I'm really happy. Like now that you allowed me to help you."  
His explanation earned him another short giggle and a smile.

"Alright, so what do we need?" Nick looked around like he was thinking hard, scratching his head.  
"A big ball of snow," she helped him out after a moment.  
Face brightening up at the enlightenment, he shot her another smile.  
"You are right. Smart little bunny. That means we need another one to put it on top, right?"  
"Mhm," she nodded more vigorously than before.  
"Do you want to start on that one and I make the bigger one or...?"  
This time she shook her head.  
"You want to make the bigger one?"  
Another nod.  
 _Gee, that she doesn't have problems with her neck already,_ he thought in jest, silently chuckling to himself.

Taking a couple of steps to get away from the direct hit zone of the snowball fight, both mammals began to form their own, rolling them over the ground to make them grow in size.  
When Nick was finished he saw that Hazel was struggling with hers after it was about two-thirds of her size - nearly half the size of his. So he silently snuck closer to the doe which tried to push the frozen orb, holding her head low.

When he was close enough, he secretly started to shove too so that it moved again.  
He kept doing this until it was big enough, only drawing away whenever the little doe looked up to inspect her work and carefully tap the snow, so it was firm.

Determining that it was the right size, he stopped pushing.  
"Wow, you really are good at this," he told her, now standing next to his own ball again, drawing Hazel's attention.  
A tiny, shy smile was her answer to that.  
"Now we have to get this one on top of yours. Can you help me with that?"  
Nodding she came closer and put her paws on one side of the ball in an attempt to lift it.

Reaching beneath it Nick was the one who pretty much carried the whole weight of it, but seeing how serious Hazel was and how her little face lit up when the snow globe was balancing above her head like she was the one holding it all on her own was rewarding and send his tail into another wag.

When they put the ball on top of hers, the little doe kept on stretching as far as she could despite the fact that at one point it wasn't touching her paws anymore.

Once it was firmly placed, Nick gently patted the kit's head.  
"You know, you are pretty strong, little Carrots."  
His praise drew a giggle from her, and he had to admit, it was fun seeing this usually timid kit happily play like that without any fear of him.

"Okay, all that's left is another small ball for the head and some branches and twigs. You wanna look for those or do you wanna make the last ball?"  
Thinking about it for a moment Hazel looked around before scooping up another pawful of snow to create a small ball.  
"Alright, I'll look for the other stuff then," Nick chuckled at the doe's eagerness.

Since some trees stood close to the warren's entrance, Nick only needed to walk away a couple of steps. He was close enough to keep an eye on his niece, and she could still see where he was.

Just when he was looking back at her, she faced in his direction.  
He waved at her which she returned before going back to her task.

After digging through the snow for several minutes, Nick found a couple of branches which were not rotten and whose shape gave him an idea.  
Smirking he grabbed them together with some smaller, thinner twigs and headed back to Hazel.

The doe had just finished by the time he stepped up next to her and was now gazing up at their half-finished snowmammal, seemingly wondering how she would get her ball up on top of it.  
Concluding that she simply wouldn't, she turned towards the tod. "Uncle Nick. Can you put it on top, please?"  
"Of course. But only if you help me decorating afterward. Deal?"  
Nodding enthusiastically, Hazel stepped aside so Nick could lift her frozen work.

After he had connected it to the rest of their snowy figure, he lifted the doe up next, holding her in the crook of one arm while taking one of the longer twigs with his other paw.

Hazel watched him while he bent the twig until it kept a slightly curved form. Breaking it in the middle while both halves stayed attached to each other he folded them until he got a pointy, flat oval that was open to one side.

Holding it in front of her with the pointed tip upwards and the open side downwards he asked her what she thought it was.  
After regarding it for a moment, the kit simply shook her head.  
Nick placed his construct on top of the snowmammal's head, slanted to one side.  
"And now?"

Again Hazel took a moment to think it over before looking at her uncle.  
"Bunny ear?"  
"That's exactly right. Do you want to make the other one?"  
Coyly, she reached for the second twig Nick handed her, mimicking his actions from before.

When she was about to break it as well, she paused to think, looking at the fox.  
Guessing her question from her contemplatively moving the twig back and forth in her paws, Nick told her "Try to break it as close to the middle as possible."  
Doing as she had been told, she presented the result to him.

Giving Hazel an approving nod, he lifted her up until she could reach the snowmammal's head and placed the second ear there.  
"Okay, what else does our snowbunny need?"  
"Eyes."  
"Right."

He reached into his pockets, producing two shiny, violet wrappers.  
' _Canid's Delight'_ was written on them, marking their former content as one of the favorite chocolate brands of every fox, wolf, and the likes - all free of theobromine, of course, though that wasn't nearly as toxic to canids anymore as it used to be for their ancestors.  
Wadding both wrappers up into tight balls, he handed one over to the little doe and placed one on the figure's face himself.

"Aunt Judy?"  
He couldn't help the short laugh escaping his muzzle at her question.  
"You really are a clever bunny, little Carrots. Yep, that's going to be her."  
Another, smaller twig became the snow Judy's mouth when he placed it slightly askew, making it appear as if she was smirking.  
"Nose!"  
"True, we still need a nose for her," Nick agreed with Hazel's soft-spoken reminder.

Mentally skimming through his pockets, he wondered what he could use for that. Realizing that his options were limited, he reached into his pants pocket, fishing out some loose coins and handing one of the smaller ones over to his niece.  
"Would you do me the honor?"  
Taking the coin, Hazel placed it beneath the eyes, giving snow Judy a 'cute' little button nose.

"Perfect. We are almost done now."  
Placing the young bunny back on the ground, he took one of the branches and stuck it into the snowmammal's right side. Through the branch's shape it looked like a bent arm, it's 'paw' placed sassily on the figure's hip.  
The second branch had a couple of shorter twigs protruding from its end, and with the angle Nick placed it in, it looked like snow Judy was demanding to get something. Or as if she would be holding something.

"Now for my last trick."  
Reaching into his jacket once more Nick pulled out a particular, orange device he had precautionary removed from his beloved's belongings.  
Placing the carrot pen into snow Judy's paw he only had a moment to admire his work before something hit him in the head, drawing a surprised yelp from the reynard.

"Ah, I'm sorry Nicky. That one missed its target."  
Vivian quickly walked over to them, Judy and the rest of the gang directly behind her.  
"I didn't hurt you, did I?"  
Brushing the snow from his cap, he shot her a smile. "Don't worry, mom. I'm used to far worse things from my sparring matches with Officer Fluff here."

"Speaking of which," Judy took a closer look at the snowmammal in front of her, taking in the pen and purple wrapper-eyes.  
"Quite the artistic work Hazel and I did here, I'd like to say." The fox gently padded the bashfully beaming kit's head.  
"Does it remind you of a certain moment, maybe?"

Imitating the figure's pose, Judy gave her husband her best lopsided, half-lidded grin.  
"If you are talking about when a smart bunny outwitted a dumb fox in regard to his felony- no, what did you call it last year? A slight..."  
"A minor administrative misconception," he helped his bunny out.  
" _That_. A minor administrative misconception about his taxes. Well, if you were talking about that time then... nope, don't remember it."  
"See, that's what this true-to-life model is made for. Though, honestly, little Carrots here did almost all the work. I was merely helping out."

Abandoning her cocky pose, Judy bent down. "Wow, you really did a good job there Hazel. Also," she stood up again to look her mate in the eyes, "don't think I missed the fact that you obviously swiped my pen when I wasn't looking."  
"Oh, no inquiring about the 'little Carrots' part?"  
"That one is obvious, I think. Don't try to change the... oh my."

From one moment to the other, she grasped for her fox, leaning against him.  
"Whoah there. Everything okay, Judy?"  
"Yeah, just... just a little dizzy." Straightening up she patted his arm that Nick had supportively slung around her.  
"You sure? You seemed a little unwell for a while now, even before we arrived here."  
"I think it's still the exhaustion. Maybe I shouldn't have been romping around so much with the kits."  
"Maybe you two should take a break then. I can keep the rugrabbits busy," Vivian offered, worry seeping into her expression.  
"That's probably a good idea. Come on, Sweetheart, let's sit down for a moment."

Leading his wife over to the porch he could almost feel the concerned gaze of his mom and the little ones following them, and he definitely understood it. He was quite worried himself, especially since Judy seemed unwilling to tell him what was really going on.

As they sat down on the bench, Nick felt a tug at his jacket.  
Moving his gaze from the grey doe next to him he was met with another, smaller one, looking at him expectantly.  
"Hey there, little Carrots. What's the matter."

Instead of answering Hazel lifted her arms, indicating that she wanted to be picked up again.  
"Oh, you want to sit with us instead of playing with your siblings?"  
 _Nod, nod_  
"Well, okay then." With that, he picked Hazel up, placing her in his lap, so she wasn't sitting on the cold wood of the bench.

Following her gaze, Judy reached for the stuffed bunny they had left there before, handing it over to her.  
"See, your friend waited here for you."  
Tooth purring, the young doe hugged her plushie to her chest before leaning against Nick's front. At the same time, another doe leaned against his side, a content sigh leaving her lips.  
Putting his arm around her he pulled Judy closer, enjoying the feeling of holding her like this.  
Something he never imagined to happen just a little over a year ago.

"One of these days you will have to tell me what is actually going on, you know," he interrupted the peaceful silence after a moment.  
Mauve eyes turned towards him, a light sparkle to them.  
"Nick, I promise you everything is fine. Can you trust me on this?"

Searching her gaze he found no reason to not believe his bunny's words, so he nodded his agreement.  
"Thanks." He was rewarded with a quick, chaste kiss that drew a happy hum from him and a soft giggle from Hazel.  
"What are you giggling about, pipsqueak," Nick blithely inquired, nuzzling the kit's nose with his own, drawing a surprised laugh from her as well as from his mate.

"You make for such a lovely little family." A voice caused the three of them to look up, finding that Vivian was standing in front of the porch, phone in hand and a wide grin on her face.  
"Did you just take a picture of us?" her son asked, his voice laced with amusement.  
"Would I ever? No! ... I took a couple of pictures."  
"You are undoubtedly your son's mother, Vivian." Shaking her head, Judy couldn't help but state the obvious.

Pocketing the device, the vixen was about to reply when not one but three snowballs hit her in the back at the same time.  
"Hey, we had a timeout!" Her protest was lacking any real annoyance and mirth was coloring her words. "You little rascals are in for it now."  
With surprised yelps the kits scattered, laughing happily about the vixen who chased them.

Pulling his own phone from his pocket, Nick inspected the message he got while his mom had still been talking. Opening the file she had sent him he found one of the pictures she had shot. It had captured the moment of Nick teasing Hazel with a laughing Judy watching them warmly.

"Mom is right, we do look like a family," he admitted, wearing a contemplative look while his mate nodded along.  
"We are a family." Hazel's words surprised them, drawing their gazes towards the little doe.  
"What do you mean? We are neither your mommy nor your daddy," Judy pointed out.  
"But you are my aunt Judy, and you are my uncle Nick. We are family."  
Two pairs of ears sprang up in amazement.  
"You are one clever bunny, little Carrots."

They were not allowed to enjoy this moment for more than a mere couple of minutes before the wind picked up and the sky darkened, sending more, bigger flakes of snow down to earth along with a chill that caused the bunnies shivers, their shorter fur offering them less resistance against the cold.

"How about we head back inside? We don't want anyone to get sick now."  
Vivian's suggestion was accepted with supportive murmuring from the exhausted kits standing around her.

"Yeah, I would prefer a hot chocolate over catching a cold anytime," Nick added, rewarding him with multiple happy outcries from the little bunnies who started to hurry back around the hill towards the entrance while the outlook on a sweet treat quickened their steps.

Only Hazel remained with him, clutching to him so he would carry her.  
It seemed the little one was quite a bit tired after the almost two hours they had spent in the snow, her eyelids hanging at half mast.

"You know we probably don't have any theobromine free drinking chocolate here, right?" Judy whispered while they made their way through the snow, squinting their eyes shut every now and then at the snowflakes battering their faces.  
"I'll brave the stomachache I might get from it," he answered with a wink. "Though I have to admit, I kinda envy you bunnies. Evolution was kind enough to allow you eating stuff like this without any drawbacks."

Judy chuckled at her fox's slightly annoyed look.  
"Well, we can eat some without any problems, that's true. But too much is still not good. Especially young kits can easily get the runs from it."  
"So only little cups for the little bunnies now. Got it."

Watching Judy out of the corner of his eye he was tempted to ask her if she was feeling better but refrained from it. He already knew her answer, and she would probably get irritated if he kept asking her.  
 _Just have to watch out for her and if anything happens again, I'll not stop poking at her until she finally tells me the truth,_ he decided.

When the little group entered the foyer and stowed their garments away, a black and brown buck came up the stairs.  
"Ah, perfect. Mom asked me to send you guys her way. She's waiting for you in the kitchen."

Thanking her brother, who vanished with a smile and a nod back into the depths of the warren, Judy led the way back to the dining hall and from there into the vast, adjacent room that was the Hopps family's canteen kitchen.  
It took them some seconds to spot the grey doe in one corner of the sizeable room amongst the hordes of bunnies flitting back and forth.

"Ah, there you are," she greeted the little group with a smile.  
"Yeah, Marv send us your way just when we came back."  
"Perfect. Now" she pulled a nearby tray closer that held multiple steaming cups, "who wants some hot chocolate?"  
A collective outcry of _me_ 's from four tiny bunnies was the answer to that, charming a chuckle from the doe.

"You have to teach me how to scry like that, Bonnie. We had just the same idea."  
Nick shook his head while watching his mother-in-law handing out the sweet beverages.  
"Oh, there is no need for psychic powers to understand that a hot cup of chocolate is the perfect thing after playing in the snow. I used to be a kit as well, you know? And for you," she reached for two more cups after Judy had received hers and handed them to the vulpines.

While Nick took his with a thanks, Vivian was hesitant.  
"Don't you worry, there is no theobromine in there," Bonnie assured her.  
"You really shouldn't have bothered. I would have survived without any sweets for a while." The vixen shot her a smile nevertheless.  
"I have a huge family whose various allergies I have to take into account every day. Do you really think it's a bother to care about two of my favorite foxes as well?"  
"You are a gem, Bonnie," Vivian laughed.

Taking a sip from her cup a satisfied hum rose from her lips.  
"That really is perfect. I'm surprised you know about canids and our intolerance towards chocolate."  
"What kind of host would I be if I accidentally poisoned my guests or worse, my family?"  
"'Poisoning' might be a bit overstated," Nick disagreed, "but we would feel unwell for a while."  
He made a show of scrunching up his face in pain.

Just in time, he saw that Hazel's grip on her cup was loosening and caught it before it could slip from her paw entirely.  
"Seems somebunny could need a nap right now." He regarded the kit with a warm amusement, her eyes already shut and her breathing even.  
"She's not the only one," Judy pointed out, taking in the yawning little lagomorphs next to them.

"Alright, let's take you to your room so you can get a snatch of sleep."  
Halfhearted protests were raised at Vivian's words.  
"Now, now, you don't want to be too tired when presents are handed out this evening, right?"  
Suddenly more willing to take a nap Yasmine, Polly, and Rupert let themselves willingly be led away by the vixen who took the already fast asleep Hazel from Nick's arm while passing him by.

"You know the way?" Bonnie asked before she came too far.  
"Yes, don't worry. Rupert wanted to be tugged in by me yesterday, so I know which room it is."  
With that she left, three tired bunnies shuffling after her.

When Nick placed the two cups he held back onto the tray, a loud clatter followed by a surprised yelp sounded through the kitchen. Just a couple of feet away from them one of Judy's siblings had tripped and sent his load of clean dishes to the floor, covering quite a bit of ground with shards of porcelain and glass.  
"Well, three days without anything getting broken was a record. It had to happen at some point," Bonnie shrugged.

Questions if somebody got hurt flew around the room and were answered in the negative.  
"I'll lend a paw cleaning up," Nick offered, starting to follow the bunny responsible for the crash.  
"Me too."  
"You," he turned towards his mate who was about to follow them as well, "stay put. Please."  
The last word he added in a soft voice.  
He didn't want to order Judy around. But he was still concerned and unwilling to see her hurt herself.

Guessing a good deal of her mate's thoughts the doe nodded, leaning back against the counter she stood next to.  
"Thanks."

When Nick was out of earshot, Bonnie couldn't keep her curiosity down any longer.  
"Has something happened while you were outside?"  
Fiddling with the tip of one ear absentmindedly, Judy looked slightly uncomfortable.  
"I got a little dizzy after playing and running around with the kits too much."  
"Yes, something like this can happen. Especially considering how stressed you - both of you - had been the last couple of weeks. Especially you, though." The older doe gently squeezed her daughter's shoulder.  
"Yeah, maybe. But it's troubling Nick." Guilt crossed her features.  
"Of course it does. He loves you, Sweety. It's just natural to become anxious when something is wrong with your significant other."

Silence settled over them for a moment before Bonnie pressed her on.  
"Are you still sure you want to wait and not just tell him?"  
Determined, her daughter nodded.  
"You know me. Once I'm set on something I don't change my mind that easily."  
"One of your greatest strengths and weaknesses at the same time," she admitted, eliciting a chuckle from Judy.  
"Alright, I won't tell him anything if that's what you want."  
"Thanks, mom."

The younger doe pressed a kiss to her mother's cheek mere moments before her husband and brother reappeared, both carrying a dustpan and brush.  
Together they made short work of the mess, and after the buck had thanked Nick for his help, he and Judy decided to leave the kitchen.

They wanted to take a short stroll through the warren, seeing if they would find someone to talk with or maybe they would make a short side-trip to the library and see if they found some indulgence in a book.  
Their last option would be to go to one of the living rooms with a TV to laze around in front of.

Though they didn't come far.  
After walking down only one hallway, they heard aggravated voices locked in a heated discussion. When they drew closer, Judy was overcome by the realization whom the voices belonged to.

Rounding a corner, they were met with the sight of Alicia and Frank, who had returned from their visit. Standing opposite to them was an old buck leaning on a walking cane, his eyes behind his large glasses shone with anger, the same anger that knitted his bushy eyebrows.  
"I can't understand how you can trust a fox - _a fox_ \- with your kits. Not only that, I saw her heading towards your room. Frith knows what lies she is feeding them and what she will steal while you are away, foolishly believing in whatever she told you."

Nick was glad his mom wasn't nearby to hear those words, feeling them cut into the old, familiar wounds countless mammals had inflicted on him over the years.

His ears perked up at the sound of teeth grinding and a glance at his mate presented him with a bunny shaking with fury.  
He quickly put his paws on her shoulders to prevent her from going ballistic, knowing she would most likely regret whatever words she would throw at her grandfather.  
Reaching up she took one of his paws in hers, squeezing it a little harder than necessary. But it helped her calm down a bit.  
It didn't stop her from stepping up to the trio.

Alicia was the first to spot her sister, her eyes widening in a mixture of surprise and pain.  
Following her gaze, Otto Hopps turned around. His questioning expression quickly morphed into surprise and switched back to anger.  
"And you. How dare you let those shifty creatures into our family? Into our warren? Aren't you a deputy? You should know-"  
"I'm a police officer for the ZPD. And yes, I know very well what prejudices and speciesism feel like, having faced them myself. And I saw how it hurt my _mate_ and his mother. Two wonderful mammals who got treated like criminals just for their species. I know that mammals like you don't care about what they have been through, who they truly are, and what they actually did and didn't do."

The old buck's ears had been plastered back against his head while his granddaughter's voice had gradually grown louder. Now they stood back up agitatedly as his burning gaze traveled from Judy to Nick.  
"This is all your fault. You turned Trudy against me, somehow making her believe you are a good, honest-"  
"Don't you dare!"  
"It's your own fault, pop-pop."  
Both Alicia and Judy interrupted him at the same time.

"They are right. You can't blame anybody but yourself for this." A sudden voice interjected.  
Bonnie stepped around the same corner Nick and Judy had rounded before.  
Following right behind her came Stu and after him Vivian.  
The latter wore a look of calm sadness, her ears not actually lying against her head but already halfway down.

"Oh, wonderful. Now you are all siding with them against your own family."  
"They are just as much our family as Frank is or as you are," Stu stated, a rare look of steely determination hardening his gaze.  
"But we are not going to discuss this any further while standing here in the hallway. Let's get to one of the living rooms." Bonnie's words allowed no protest.

With an angry growl, Otto's grip on his cane tightened, but he followed his daughter when the group began to move.

It was the second time in just as many days that Nick and Judy entered that particular living room with the intention of discussing something rather difficult.  
Sinking into the comfortable chairs and sofas should have been relaxing, but the atmosphere was tense.

"So, you want to convince me that those... _foxes,_ " he spat the word out as if it was an insult, "are actually good, upstanding citizens?"  
"Exactly." Bonnie agreed, nodding along solemnly.  
"Pshaw!"  
"Have you ever actually met a fox and talked with them?" his daughter challenged him.  
"Why should I? So they can get a chance to pull me over the barrel? I'm no idiot."  
"So how come you _know_ that they all are bad mammals?" his son-in-law kept pressing on.  
"Because _everyone_ knows! I'm not going to make the same mistakes other mammals already made before me."

"You are just _repeating_ the same mistakes instead of avoiding them. Those stupid rumors and prejudices are based on old stories and behavioral studies of our primitive ancestors. Using those as reasons to shun all foxes or any evolved species is simply wrong. Those are just subterfuges mammals use so they don't have to admit they had been wrong all the time." For just a second it seemed as if Judy's words gave the old buck pause.

But the next moment his contemplatively downcasted gaze hardened again.  
"No 'rumors' are based entirely on sand and lies. There is always a reason for them. Just look at the news. There are statistically more crimes committed by foxes, weasels, and hyenas then by any other species. I've looked it up. How do you explain that?"  
Taken aback silence befell those present.

Only Judy wore a small, sad smile.  
"That's easy. What do you do when no one ever believes in you or gives you a chance? Who do you turn to when you already have a hard time getting a job and whichever one you get you lose again shortly after because you are always the one who gets blamed for whatever is going wrong? What are your options when money is running low, but you still have to eat and need a place to live? Would you just watch your kits or loved ones get sick when you don't have the money to get them treated in a hospital? When you are perceived as a criminal for your whole life, at some point turning towards stealing and becoming exactly what you have always been accused to be is one of the few options you have left besides living in the streets and begging for money or... simply dying."

Her words had left all of them with consternation.  
Most affected were the two vulpines present.  
Vivian's ears were plastered back against her head, and her eyes had gotten glassy. Nick felt dark memories rise back to the surface. Memories he had wished to forget.

A soft paw took his and drew him back from that gloomy place.  
He shot his mate a grateful smile, squeezing her paw gently.

It seemed even Otto wasn't immune to what he had been told. The angry lines on his face had softened marginally while he took in the expressions of the foxes.  
"It can't be that bad. You are overexaggerating. If they would do their work the way they are supposed to, then no one would give them a hard time."

A dry laugh bare of any amusement was the vixen's reaction to his words.  
"Let me tell you a little about me and my husband's life, Mr. Hopps."  
Dread overcame Nick, knowing pretty well where this was going.  
A familiar pain spread throughout his chest.

"Over the course of my life, I had more than two dozen jobs. Many of them were low salary ones like server in greasy diners or stock clerk. And I lost each of them for reasons that were absolute nonsense. For example, I got fired from a shop when the daily settlement didn't add up. That was during a vacation when I wasn't even in town. Another time I was accused of ignoring a fire that had broken out in the kitchen of a burger joint I was working in. I was held responsible despite me being out serving the customers while two mammals were supposed to be in the kitchen. The chef was out the back taking a break to smoke, and his trainee panicked and threw water on the fat fire. It had always been like this. Something went wrong or missing? Blame the fox, the weasel, the hyena. No one would ask questions if one of them was there, even if they _weren't_ there at the time. And that is only what I had been through." Her voice, which had gotten a little more agitated, fell almost silent at her last words.  
The mist from before rose back into her eyes.

"Mom, you don't have to-"  
"I know, Nicky. But I want him to understand what our family has been through. Just because we were born foxes."  
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Vivian raised her downcast eyes back up to face the mammals around her, though her gaze was far away.

"My husband, Robert, was a tailor. He owned a shop which he had taken over from his father who had sold their house to make enough money to afford it. That house had been in his family's possession for many generations, built by one of his ancestors with their own paws. Robert's father though had this dream. He wanted to go to this big, promising city where anyone could be anything, no matter their size and species. He wanted to make _suits_ for mammals of all sizes and species. Surprise, though, it hadn't been that easy."  
Her eyes met Judy's, knowing that her daughter-in-law had big dreams as well when she moved to the city. Dreams which had almost gotten run into the ground instantly.

"The shop he had gotten was at the border of Zootopia's slums, and foxes were still treated like scum there. But he never gave up. Somehow he got enough customers to barely keep it running. And when Robert took over, he did everything he could to keep the business alive. Then one day..."  
The words got stuck in her throat, and a tear made its way down her cheek.  
Nick was up and walked over to her before anybody else could raise a paw, embracing his mom and trying to comfort her.

While the vixen silently wept into her son's arms, he took up where she had left.  
"My dad never had any real enemies. He never crossed someone or had anything to do with the criminal underworld. And yet, even in Happytown - the absolute worst part of Zootopia - there were mammals who thought foxes were somehow worse than any other mammal and they should get rid of us. So they did. With fire."  
His feature scrunched up in pain at the memory of his dad's shop, blackened and smoldering.

"Afterward they said it was some kind of technical defect caused by one of the sockets. That was bull! I heard mammals whispering on the quiet that someone had thrown something through the glass front of the store right before the fire broke out. But when the police came to investigate, no one wanted to have seen anything. And of course, the insurance claimed to not cover that kind of event even if we were to go with the technical defect. Mom couldn't believe that my dad had lacked the foresight to not include something like this, but sadly the insurance papers were in the shop at that time, burnt to ashes. And the company didn't want to allow us insight in their copies of it. Of course," he continued just when Stu was about to ask something, "we thought about sueing them or report them to the police. But the police had already proved that they didn't really care about our case. And what lawyer would take the case of two foxes trying to sue an insurance company? They knew they would lose. So instead we lost. We lost a husband, a father. We lost our shop and money we could have needed. And we lost a good deal of trust into mammalkind."  
Vivian had caught herself by the time her son had finished but still looked very fragile, the gossamer of painful memories clinging to her.

A paw still on her shoulder, Nick turned to face the mammals around him.  
His extended family.  
"It was not until I met my mate - until I met Judy - that I found some of that trust I lost back then. She was the first mammal who actually wanted to make a difference. To actually aim to overcome those prejudices. She believed in me, trusted in me. She was suffering when she realized she hurt me. She cared and shed tears. Something no one but my family did before. She saved me, in more ways but one."

The grey doe, whose tears had flown freely while listening to the tod's words, hurried over to him to pull him into a tight embrace, hiding her face against his front.  
"And more than that, without her my life would still be empty instead of being filled with purpose, love, and so many mammals who see us for _who_ we are instead of _what_ we are."  
The first traces of a smile came back to Nick while he regarded those mammals who smiled and nodded at him in return, their eyes filled with warm compassion.

"You gave us a lot as well," Bonnie was the first to respond to the fox's words.  
"We know that without you, our Judy might have not only lost her dream but also her life. You have saved and protected her so she can still be here and still be herself. And it's easy to see that since she met you, she is happier than I have ever seen her before. And that last part is not only going for her but many of our kits. Since you two started dating, you have proven that interspecies relationships like yours can work. Quite some of our sons and daughters who had never considered searching outside of their own species found the love that always eluded them."

"We have to thank you as well," Alicia's words caught everyone's attention.  
"Without meeting you and Vivian, who knows what would have become of our family." She gave her husband an apologetical look before turning back towards Nick.  
"Maybe your mom told you, but we didn't just move to Zootopia. Frank was already living there because of his job. But me? I had always been scared of this place. A huge city with equally huge mammals who could easily step on me or the kits. And predators. I know compared to the number of prey mammals in the city, predators were a minority. But just the idea of those fangs and claws... what kind of damage they could do. It was enough to make me sick. I was scared, and Frank was forced to live there alone while I stayed here, safe with the kits."

For a moment she was lost in thought before her features softened.  
"And then I met Vivian and Nick. Rupert was the first to approach them. He wasn't afraid at all but instantly in love with you." She shot the vixen a lopsided grin.  
"And not only him. When you guys visited the next time, Yasmine, Polly, and even our shy little Hazel were attached to her. Nick and Judy had already started dating by then and all in all, it showed me that predators were anything but dangerous. Vivian was so careful when interacting with the little ones, and she never harmed a hair on their heads. And Nick... just as my mom said, if not for him I would have lost a sister. And he was a police officer just like her, protecting the city, the mammals there, and Judy as her partner. And if a bunny and a fox officer weren't swallowed whole by the city so far, I started to wonder if maybe my husband had been right with what he said about Zootopia not being as dangerous as I thought it to be. So I moved there. The beginning was rough, getting used to this place. The kits loved it, though. And Vivi... really, you always help us so much. Since we both work we often need a cubsitter and we appreciate you looking after the little ones whenever you have time. And they love you just so much. I mean, just look at this."  
She pulled her phone from her pocket, swiping away at it for a moment before showing the screen to Vivian, Nick, and Judy.

The tod couldn't help the laugh that escaped him when he saw the picture, and delighted cries rose from Judy and her parents who had come closer to take a look as well.  
It showed a fast-asleep Vivian on the couch of what Nick assumed was Alicia and Frank's apartment. Next to her, four little bunnies lay, all of them sleeping as well, cuddling with the vixen's tail while they were covered with a blanket.

"I can't believe you took a picture of that... and didn't share it with me."  
At the sight of the serene moment her friend had captured, warmth shone from Vivian's eyes. Her tears had dried, but some moisture still stuck to the fur around them.  
A smirk appeared on her face.  
"I even have something to trade."  
"And I have a sense of foreboding," Nick exclaimed with a deadpan expression.

Sure enough, when his mom showed them a picture from her own phone, it was the same one she had taken just a little over an hour ago.  
"Is that Hazel? I can't believe she looks that comfortable. Usually, she has a hard time getting used to new mammals. Even if she knows Nick, she had never really interacted with him much. This is... wow. You have to send this one to me."

A harrumph behind them reminded them of the presence of Otto Hopps who had gotten up to take a look at those pictures as well. The old buck was still frowning, but his whole body language was missing the vast disapproval and repulsion from before.  
"So you have been able to blind my family with your sweet words and careful actions, huh?" His words though lacked the ire they had radiated in the hallway.  
If anything, he seemed tired.

"Bunnies are weak, and dumb."  
"How dare you-" Nick's unexpected words reignited his anger.  
"That's what you pretty much are saying."  
He looked at the old rabbit seriously with an even gaze.  
"You think my mom and I were able to deceive every single member of your family. That just with our words we made them believe we are kind, friendly mammals when we are actually villains with ulterior motives. You don't have faith in even one of them to realize the truth hidden behind our lies. Or maybe you think we threatened them without anyone standing up to us? That covers pretty much all the prejudices mammals have about bunnies."

Slumping back down in his chair, Otto couldn't deny that the fox's words stung.  
They stung because there was a truth in them he couldn't dispute.  
He had thought himself to be the only one who was able to see through their deceits.  
But that also meant he looked down on all the mammals he cared about  
A heavy silence had settled over the room after Nick had finished.

All eyes were trained on the buck sitting in his chair, his face hidden in one paw.  
"It's true what they say about foxes and their silver tongues."  
His words caused every mammal in the room to deflate in defeat.  
"But I'll be damned, they work even on me."

Letting his paw fall down the old lagomorph met Nick's gaze with a stern stare.  
"One chance," his words were silent but carried a sense of finality, "I'll give you one chance to prove yourself to me, Rick. Should you ever hurt my granddaughter or anybody else in this family or do anything that convinces me you have lied to me, I'll beat you out of this warren with my cane."

A careful smile appeared on the reynard's face.  
"One chance is all I ever asked for. Thank you, sir."  
"Yes, well, if you all will excuse me now," he raised out of his chair with a grunt, "I think there is a cup with chamomile tea waiting for me as well as a good book that calls my name from the library."

Before he could even take one step, three female bunnies had rushed and embraced him.  
The one who was likely the most affectionate and grateful was Judy, nuzzling her grandpa's neck, but all three of them thanked him excessively.

While he was stuck in this group hug with his daughter and granddaughters, Vivian made eye contact with him.  
"Thank you, sir."  
Nodding, he finally got free and walked over to the stairs.

After the first two, he paused.  
"I know it's probably no help to you, but you have my deepest sympathies for your loss."  
With that, he vanished.

"I can't believe my dad saw reason. That's almost unheard of."  
A couple of nods followed Bonnie's words before uneasy silence settled over the room.

As the minutes ticked away, Vivian felt the aftermath of the emotional turmoil she had put herself through, exhaustion starting to set in.  
"I think I'll retreat for now and take a nap. All that was more demanding than I expected."

A paw on her lower arm stopped her in her tracks.  
The dark brown doe it belonged to gazed into her eyes with concern.  
"Are you going to be alright?"  
"Yeah, I'll... I'll be fine. I just need a little time to myself, that's all."  
"Okay. I just... I wanted to say, I'm glad you shared this and you should know that you will always have a family with us, no matter what."  
"Thank you, Ally. That means the world to me."

Before she knew it, the female had hugged her, followed shortly by Judy, Bonnie, Frank, and Stu, all confirming Alicia's statement.  
"Now look what you did," Vivian exclaimed in a soft voice laced with laughter while fresh tears started to trickle down her face.

Feeling a touch on her back, she looked up to see her son smiling at her.  
She mouthed him a silent 'thank you', not even sure herself what for.  
Maybe for supporting her when she talked about Robert.  
Maybe for coming back to her and just being there.  
Maybe for falling in love with Judy and leading her to her new, wonderful family.  
Maybe a little bit of everything.

After all the bunnies had detached from her, she wiped at her moist eyes.  
"Really, you can't make an old lady cry like this."  
Though she wore a bright smile while saying these words.  
"Tell me about it." Bonnie pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, the fur around her cheeks showing wet traces as well.

After Vivian took her leave, Frank turned towards Nick and Judy, looking for a way to stop the silence from returning.  
"So everything went well with the kits?"  
Alicia's ears perked up at that, curiosity demanding her attention.  
"We had no problems at all. They had a lot of fun, I think. Especially Hazel seemed to enjoy herself while building a snowmammal with Nick." Judy shot her husband a smirk.  
"What can I say," he replied, a lopsided grin spreading over his features, "we foxes are-"  
"Don't say irresistible. That's really getting old by now."  
"I wanted to say 'good with kits', but irresistible is just as accurate."  
A groan fled Judy's lips as she let her head hang in fake annoyance.

"And they are sleeping now?" Alicia inquired after chuckling at the two mammals' antics.  
"They were rather tired when we got back. Hazel was already falling asleep on Nick's arm, and Vivian led the drowsy gang back to your room, so I assume yes, they are asleep. Though that was over an hour ago."  
"In that case," the brown doe turned towards her husband, "we should maybe go wake them up, or they won't be able to sleep tonight."  
Nodding his agreement, they left together.

"Since it's getting rather late, I will go back to the kitchen now. I don't think there will be any major problems, but you never know," Bonnie gave her daughter and son-in-law a quick hug before heading down the stairs as well, shortly followed by her mate who stated he needed to figure out if they had to make some room in the dining hall after dinner or if they could just leave it the way it was.

Suddenly all alone in the now empty living room, Nick slumped down in one of the chairs, all strength fleeing from him.  
"Mom was right, that was really demanding."

He opened his eyes when a weight landed in his lap and found his mate cuddling against his front, arms slung tightly around his torso.

"You are amazing."  
His ears shot up at the surprising declaration of his bunny.  
"Where did that come from?"  
She leaned her head against him, her cheek resting against his chest.  
"Whenever I learn something new about your past I'm more and more astounded that you don't hate every mammal. But no, you are a police officer, protecting a whole city which had disappointed and let you down. You are the most wonderful mammal I know."  
Nick nuzzled his beloved between her ears, pressing a kiss at the same spot while returning her embrace.

"It wasn't easy overcoming those feelings. It still isn't. But if I would just give in to those, it would mean letting down the young, bright-eyed kit who wanted to be a junior ranger scout. I want to be a part of the solution, improving the situation for others instead of becoming a part of the problem. Otherwise, I might disappoint you. Something I hope I never will since without you I wouldn't be here."

Judy had started to tooth purr while her mate had been talking.  
"See, that's why you are amazing. And why I love you."  
She stole a quick kiss from his lips.  
A gesture which he immediately repeated.

"What about you, Sweetheart?"  
"Me?" the doe looked up in confusion.  
"Do you want to take a quick nap before dinner?"  
She contemplated his suggestion for a moment.  
"That does sound tempting. But before that, let's stay here for a little longer."

So they did.

* * *

Dinner was even more of a challenge for Bonnie and her helpers than breakfast had been.  
Feeding every mammal inside the warren at the same time without the small break between the two rounds of dinner they had the years before left them with less time to prepare everything while providing the same amount of food.

Nevertheless, everything was ready without any delay when the hungry mob swarmed the large hall.  
Nick and Judy - the latter had carried the same jute sack as last year - had snatched a place right next to Vivian who looked a lot more lively than before.

Of course, wherever the vixen was the 'rugrabbits' were not far.  
When Hazel saw her aunt and uncle approach, she gave them a small wave, hugging her stuffed bunny tighter to her.  
Seeing that, Alicia - who's lap the little kit was sitting on - asked her if she wanted to sit with her uncle Nick during dinner.  
A question Hazel answered with a coy nod much to the tod's pleasant surprise.

Dinner itself was loud.  
It was no wonder, bearing in mind how many mammals had gathered in that room. Especially so considering how many of them were young, excited kits which couldn't wait to unwrap their presents.

When every belly was filled and the time drew closer, the dining hall emptied out.  
Mammals hurried to their rooms to fetch their gifts.  
"I'll be right back," Judy excused herself as well.  
"Hey, I thought we didn't want to exchange presents this year," Nick called after her, assuming what the doe had planned.  
"I need to go to the bathroom."

Bolting down the hallways, she stopped dead in her tracks when she heard two voices approaching her from the far end. Peeking around the corner, Judy saw that one of the voices belonged - as she had thought - to her brother Jake.  
The other one she couldn't put a name on came from a ferret walking next to him.

Just as she wondered if Jake had found the nerve to confess, they stopped under one of the few mistletoes spread over the warren.

While Jake's gaze was moving upwards to follow his friend's, the ferret quickly pressed a kiss on his cheek, giggling at the surprised buck's wide-eyed expression before it turned into a smile.  
Grabbing the hob's paw, Jake drew him along towards the dining hall.

Even over that distance, Judy could still see that her brother's ears were turning bright red before she continued towards her room.  
A wide smile spread across her face.

* * *

"So, no present for Judy this year?" Vivian inquired.  
"I was originally messing around, stating how Christmas has gotten too centered around profit over the years and that it was meant to be about family and stuff. Though Carrots instantly agreed. She liked the idea of just spending time together instead of worrying about gifts. She already does this for her littermates, after all."

"And you haven't secretly planned anything for her?" the surprise in the vixen's voice was evident, even more so as her son simply shook his head.  
"Well, I wasn't _just_ messing around when I said that. But..." his voice trailed off while he looked in the direction his mate had vanished in.  
He had the feeling that the bunny had something in petto.

Minutes passed, and the room filled once more, Judy almost being amongst the last to flit back in. Nick eyed her suspiciously but saw nothing that confirmed his hunch.

When every mammal was present, Stu started his yearly speech, stating how happy he was to see a large part of his family gathered in one spot like this and how nice it was to be able to sit comfortably together instead of dragging the tables and benches out.  
The way he patted himself on the back earned him a couple of chuckles and laughs as well as some teasing shouts of 'Hear ye!'

When he ended, the usual chaos broke loose, with littermates looking for each other, and little kits frantically tearing wrapping paper off of presents.

Judy had once again vanished to look for her own brothers and sisters.

Using the chance, Nick produced a small, flat, black box from his pocket.  
"Merry Christmas, mom."  
"And here I thought we had the same agreement as you and Judy have," she gently scolded while opening it, revealing nothing but a business card lying inside.  
"Yes, we did. But since this is not costing any money, I think you'll forgive me," he smirked watching his mother's confused expression.

"Alright, you got me. What is this?"  
She examined the card but found nothing besides a name and a number written on it.  
"It's the number of an old acquaintance of mine who owes me a favor. He is extremely versed in repairing watches, you see."

Before he knew it, Vivian had pulled him into an embrace.  
"Thank you, Nicky. Watching your dad's gift slowly stop working properly was painful, and repairs aren't cheap."

When she let go, she found a little group of bunnies patiently waiting next to them.  
Bonnie and Stu approached Nick with a small box in paw which they handed him.  
Uncertain what to expect he slowly opened it.

"Since you and our Jude-the-dude are married now, we thought it is the right moment for you to get this."  
Inside he found, resting in a bed of soft cloth, a red Christmas ball sporting his face.

He knew what it meant. It would hang on one of the Hopps' Christmas trees, next to his mate's, showing that he was indeed a part of their family.

Speechless he hugged his parents-in-law, needing a moment to find his voice again.  
"Thank you, Bonnie. Thank you, Stu. That's a really wonderful gift."  
He shot them a grateful smile which they returned just as brightly.

"Maybe you two can hang your presents up together then," Alicia's words drew the attention to the other mammals standing next to them.  
"Come on, and careful now," she gently prompted her kits forward.

Rupert carried a similar but larger package, holding it out for Vivian to take.  
Delicately taking it from the little buck, a happy, slightly wobbly laugh escaped her when she saw the ball and bauble resting inside.

The former was pretty much the same as her son's, though where his image wore a lopsided grin, hers simply smiled brightly. The latter was shaped like a fox's tail, waving elegantly and curling a little at the end.  
The meaning of both those unexpected items was clear. The vixen was not only seen as a part of the family, she was also a very precious and special mammal to them.  
Going down on one knee she hugged all of the kits, pressing kisses to their foreheads.

"And we got one more thing for you, if you want it," Frank added.  
Wondering how much more her heart would be able to take this Christmas, she raised again and prepared herself for whatever came next.

Alicia and Frank Leapsky exchanged a quick glance and nod before the doe gave Vivian a serious look. "Vivi, we would like you to become the godmother of our little ones."  
A paw to her muzzle, Vivian couldn't stop the gasp at the offer she had just been given.  
"Are you sure?"  
"Absolutely. We have no doubts about this. So, what do you say?"  
"Of course I'll say yes. Come here you two."  
She couldn't remember ever hugging so many mammals in such a short amount of time as she had done throughout this Christmas.

"Ugh, not again." Letting go of the two lagomorphs she wiped her eyes and attempted to stop fresh tears from flowing yet again. In vain.

While Vivian tried to deal with the emotional gifts she had gotten, Judy had returned and approached her husband. Even with the mass of mammals around them, Nick smelled her before turning around.  
Her scent though made him somewhat uncomfortable.  
His bunny was clearly stressed.

"What's the matter, Fluff? Are you not feeling well?"  
Wordlessly she took out a present from behind her back, handing it over to him.  
Unsure how to react he took it, noticing that it was something soft simply wrapped in brightly colored paper that sported dancing snowmammals of all kinds.  
"And here I thought we didn't want to give something to each other."  
She shrugged.  
"Where did you even hide that? I saw you packing that jute sack." An insecure smile played on his lips, though his mate's behavior instilled nervousness in him.  
"Secret of the trade," was her short, serious reply.

Swallowing, he started to tear through the tape with a claw, slowly unwrapping the gift's content.  
What he found was a light blue, folded fabric that, as he took it out of its wrapping, revealed another, pink one beneath. More confused than before he unfolded them and after a moment realized that what he was holding in his paws were tiny…

"... onesies?"

His brain was drawing a blank as he wide-eyed stared at his mate, maw hanging open without any word leaving it.

Nick's reaction caused Judy to feel even more distressed than before, not knowing if it was a positive one or not. Fidgeting on her spot, she had difficulties holding his gaze while explaining.  
"I... I don't know yet how many there will be. I-it's still too early to say, yet. The same goes for, youknow, if they aregoingtobeboysorgirlsorbothor-"  
Her rambling was interrupted by a collective of surprised calls that drew her averted eyes back to her mate.

The tod was being held by a couple of her siblings, slowly letting him down to the ground.  
Otherwise, it seemed he would have crumpled, his legs having given in.  
"Despite us being different species? You are not pulling my leg, are you?" His voice was barely more than a croaky whisper as he looked up at Judy.

The room had grown silent.

She shook her head with the beginning of a smile playing around her lips, mirroring her mate's. A surprised yelp escaped her as she felt herself being drawn for- and downward into her fox's open arms, happy laughter sounding from him while he embraced his wife.

His pregnant wife.

Finding her bearings, Judy joined in his undiluted bliss, her own tears of relieve joining Nick's.  
The cheers that broke out throughout the room were even louder than the year before when they had shared their first kiss after Nick's unexpected confession.  
Lips met again in passion and unbridled joy, the news still making Nick's head reel.

When they parted, he voiced his disbelief.  
"I'm really going to be a father?"  
Judy nodded, and he finally understood.  
Her exhaustion.  
The times she felt dizzy.  
His weird hunches that she was keeping something from him.  
Bonnie's hint this morning and Judy's reaction to it.  
Her…

He facepalmed.  
"You don't wear any perfume, do you?" he asked the confused looking doe.  
"Nope, never have, never will," she confirmed laughingly.  
"I'm such a..."  
"... dumb fox?" his mate provided.  
He nodded.

Another question popped into his mind.  
"Say, how long did your mom know about it, Fluff?"  
"You picked up on that, huh?" She shot him a guilty grin. "I didn't tell her on purpose. I wanted you to be the first one to find out. Also wanted to get back at you for letting me wait for your confession until last year," she added in a hushed voice, the barest trace of a smirk on her lips. "But yesterday, when I helped her fetch the food and cider, she asked me straight about it while no one was nearby. Said she knew it the moment we entered the warren."

The tod shook his head in mild disbelief.  
 _Not scrying, eh?_

"And what about you?" he inquired.  
Suddenly appearing rather bashful the doe helped her mate up to his feet.  
"Do you remember when I was sent home because I felt dizzy at work? I had gone to see a doctor, and he said nothing was wrong with me besides a little exhaustion. But he also found something else, and after I told him my husband is a fox, he sent me to see another doctor. She is a specialist for cross-species conception sitting in the Rainforest District - a really sweet red panda - and guess what she told me? Surprise."  
Another tear slowly traveled down her cheek, passing by the upturned corner of her lips before it fell from her chin down onto the tod's paw.

"Keeping secrets from your husband. You are such a bad bunny."  
"Your bad bunny."  
He stole another kiss from the one he loved, one of his paws unwittingly caressing her belly.  
And while he did, he thought to himself that this was the best, emotionally draining, most tear-jerking Christmas he ever had.

A loud ' _Thud'_ behind him caused Nick to turn around.  
Noticing that the eyes of quite some of the present bunnies were casted downwards he followed their gazes, finding that his father-in-law had apparently fainted while Bonnie stood next to him, shaking her head in mild disbelief.  
"And again. It's always the same with him."

Facing the parents-to-be, she pulled them into a hug, the first of many they would receive over the next hour. And every single one of them would stoke the warm flame burning inside them, making them feel like they were far up in the clouds.

* * *

The feeling persisted still when they already sat in the train heading back towards the city, making it all seem almost unreal.

"Hope you have braced yourself, Fluff."  
Nick's words drew Judy back from her ruminating on the last two days.  
Two days that had yet again changed her life.  
"Huh? Braced for what?"  
She snuggled closer to her mate, head turning so she could look into his eyes.  
"We do have to inform Bogo about you being an expecting mother now. That means you will be pulled from active duty."  
"I can deal with some weeks of paperwork. Seriously, you are more annoyed by deskwork than me, Slick."

Shaking his head with a growing smirk, he let his index finger tick from side to side.  
"Tsk tsk tsk, that's not what I'm getting at, Sweetheart."  
She gave him a puzzled look, waiting for the tod to elaborate.  
"What I mean is, mammals will realize what this is about at some point even if ol' buffalo butt doesn't spell it out. And that would mean…" he gestured for her to continue.  
"... Benji will hear about it, too," she finished his sentence, finally realizing what he meant by bracing herself.

As much as she loved the portly cheetah, her ears wilted at the idea of him finding out about her pregnancy. At least about the first reaction he would most likely have.  
"I need hearing protection."

Vivian - again sitting across from them - chuckled at Judy's resigned exclamation.  
"From what you two told me about him, he supported you even before you became mates. So leave him that little moment of joy."  
"I guess." A smile played around Judy's lips. "Though he already was Nick's best man during our wedding. Is it asked too much that I want to keep my hearing intact?"  
Laughter was the answer she got, with her joining in after a moment.

When they calmed down again, Judy settled back against her fox, feeling his arm slung around her and the warmth from his body seeping into hers.

 _A new chapter of our life is going to start._  
The thought was almost scary, but the excitement and happiness outweighed it by far. Especially since she wasn't alone in this. Closing her eyes, she felt slumber approach her with quick steps.

 _And many more to come,_ her continued musings slowly changed into the beginnings of a dream about their future as she drifted asleep.  
Safe in the arms of her fox.

* * *

 **A/N:**

A couple of things at the end.  
No, these last paragraphs are not a hint that more chapters are coming. I don't have any continuation planned.

And yeah, that part with Pop-pop was quite a bit darker than I would have expected it to turn out.  
I mean, I knew the confrontation would come (unlike with the part with Jake's coming out which I totally didn't see coming until it happened), though I wouldn't have expected that thickheaded old mammal to be that hard to convince nor did I expect Robert's fate to be such a tragic one. I know this is not really supposed to be happening in a fluffy Christmas story, but... well, it did happen :-(


End file.
